Political analyst Dr. Maukesh Basdeo is weighing in on the Venezuelan Assembly's decision to declare Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar persona non grata.
He describes the move as part of a phase of diplomatic tit-for-tat between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
Amid growing geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Dr. Basdeo says the latest action reflects how long-standing strains between the two neighbours are resurfacing in new and more public ways.
00:00Dr. Mukesh Bazdeo tells the Morning Edition, it's no secret that for years, Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Bissensa has aligned herself with the opposing side for regime change in Venezuela.
00:13He says, the Venezuelan Assembly's move to declare Trinidad and Tobago's head of cabinet, persona non grata, is therefore not surprising, given the rising regional tensions.
00:24Going all the way back to possibly 2017, if one was to look at the position that he has had with regard to dealing with criticisms, political criticisms, against his government, his regime, and members of his government.
00:41And so it is not strange to see that Ms. Kamala Passat-Bissensa has joined, I would say, a very lustrous list of persons who have criticised Mr. Maduro over the period of policy over seven years.
00:59Dr. Bazdeo suspects that the next step could be the targeting of this country's personnel at the Venezuelan Embassy. He describes it as part of the political retaliation.
01:11So it may ask us to downgrade the number of personnel at our embassy in Caracas. And so this may be the first stage in what we call a tit-for-tat, diplomatic tit-for-tat.
01:26Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Bissensa has said the declaration of persona non grata does not face her. And she has no reason to go to Venezuela, nor will she be bullied.
01:38According to Dr. Bazdeo, Trinidad and Tobago's alignment with the United States in its fight against narco-trafficking reflects the country's long-standing struggle with rising crime and violence and the broader negative social and economic impact of the drug trade on the nation.
01:57She has joined on to the cause that narco-trafficking is having an impact on not only on what we call the murder rate, but is also responsible for the influx of, let's say, weapons entering the country's domain and so forth.
02:16So in this context, she has made it clear that she has joined the United States in its effort to curb what we call narco-trafficking within the region. So it is in that context.
02:26Dr. Bazdeo describes the situation as a tense wait-and-see between Venezuela and the United States, noting that President Donald Trump has placed the bullseye on President Maduro.
02:41So in this context, what we are doing is playing a wait-and-see game is what will be the next approach by the United States in its relationship with Venezuela.
02:49Clearly, the U.S. would have demonstrated that Trump coming into office and raising what we call this bounty on the head of Nicolas Maduro and using the term as a narco-terrorist.
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