GONZALES: VENEZUELA TESTING TT

CCNTV6

Honorary Senior Fellow at the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies, Dr. Anthony Gonzales believes Trinidad and Tobago is being tested, strategically and politically by Venezuela.  He tells the Morning Edition from the beginning; they made claims without presenting solid evidence.  Still, Dr. Gonzales is careful not to excuse missteps on our side noting that our government should not have responded so aggressively either.  Tv6's Nicole M Romany has more.

Transcript

00:00Dr. Anthony Gonzalez says Venezuela should have met with Trinidad and Tobago's government

00:06to express its concerns and seek a diplomatic solution.

00:11He believes the real issue is Venezuela's fear that this country could be used as a base to undermine their government.

00:19I'm even wondering to what extent the Venezuelans may have raised this,

00:23not because they have found any terrorists coming from here, but rather because they are concerned, as I said,

00:32with subversion coming from Trinidad and Tobago.

00:35And they're sort of testing the waters.

00:37They're trying to find out from us, well, what is your reaction to something like this?

00:41Remember that Venezuela is at a very crucial stage right now.

00:46The Americans are coming down very, very hard on them.

00:48They're imposing very tight sanctions.

00:50He tells us peaceful and diplomatic relations must be maintained between our two countries.

00:58We have to give Venezuela the assurance that our territory would not be used.

01:03We are not a proxy of any foreign power and that we would like to have good relations with them,

01:08as we have had over the years.

01:10He calls Monday's meeting between the Foreign Affairs Minister and the Venezuelan Embassy

01:16as a step in the right direction.

01:17But while he supports a deeper investigation, he insists the burden of proof lies with Venezuela.

01:25An investigation that must take place.

01:28I think both on our side as well as their side.

01:31Okay?

01:32And as I said, it's more incumbent on them, because they're the ones who claim they have arrested people.

01:38It's more incumbent on them to provide that information.

01:42You know, who these people are, what they did, exactly where they come from, and so forth.

01:47We talk about Colombians and so forth.

01:49We would want to know that Colombians come in, where they came from.

01:54Dr. Gonzalez says both sides have work to do.

01:58He recommends that Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela find a solution together,

02:04through dialogue, not conflict.

02:06He believes a collective approach is the only way forward.

02:10Nicole M. Romani, TV6 News.

02:13We'll see you next time.

02:14We'll see you next time.

02:15We'll see you next time.

02:16We'll see you next time.

02:17We'll see you next time.

02:18We'll see you next time.

02:19We'll see you next time.

02:20We'll see you next time.

02:21We'll see you next time.

02:22We'll see you next time.

02:23We'll see you next time.

02:24We'll see you next time.

02:25We'll see you next time.

02:26We'll see you next time.

02:27We'll see you next time.

02:28We'll see you next time.

02:29We'll see you next time.

02:30We'll see you next time.

02:31We'll see you next time.

02:32We'll see you next time.

02:33We'll see you next time.

02:34We'll see you next time.

02:35We'll see you next time.

02:36We'll see you next time.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended