Economist and former Planning Minister Dr. Bhoendradatt Tewarie says Trinidad and Tobago could have chosen to tread lightly in the unfolding U.S / Venezuela geopolitical tensions. However, he believes that option was not available to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, whose decade-long alignment with the U S. has effectively entered the country in what he describes as a high-stakes geopolitical game.
00:00Dr. Bohindradath Tawari warns that the escalating geopolitical tensions between Venezuela and the U.S. carries serious implications for Trinidad and Tobago.
00:12He points out that Venezuela is a highly connected and strategic state, maintaining deep ties with Cuba and China, as well as a 20-year cooperation agreement with Iran.
00:24And while the standoff between the U.S. and Venezuela intensifies, Dr. Tawari says he does not believe the Maduro administration will forget that TNT appeared to side with the U.S. against its closest neighbor.
00:38So this situation is very tense and in a sense Venezuela is a kind of test case of geopolitical maneuvering in the Western Hemisphere and globally.
00:52And for that reason, Trinidad and Tobago as a small country finds itself really kind of sandwiched and in aligning in the way that it has now, there could be problems later.
01:06Dr. Tawari says the U.S. has three major interests driving its posture toward Venezuela.
01:14He tells the morning edition, while confronting drug trafficking and narco networks remain one, he warns that it would be naive to overlook the deeper objective, regime change.
01:26Adding that the Trump administration has openly backed opposition forces to unseat Nicolas Maduro.
01:33According to him, the third and most consequential dimension lies in the global geopolitical struggle now playing out in the Western Hemisphere.
01:43Venezuela has become a test case of that because they have all the United States adversaries in this conflict between a unipolar world, which the U.S. wants with dominance,
01:58and a multi-polar world in which China, Russia, Iran want to have a play in the process.
02:08And this has also become a stage for that kind of geopolitics.
02:13Dr. Tawari further warns of the fallout for this country and its relationship with its CARICOM counterparts, noting that Trinidad and Tobago is now isolated from CARICOM.
02:25And basically, we are now in a vulnerable position if the Maduro government remains in office.
02:35Because believe you me, when this thing is over, if Maduro is still there, we're going to have a lot of problems on our coast.
02:44If the Venezuelan Navy, the Venezuelan Navy is going to give us hell in the waters.
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