Venezuela Takes Action Against Trinidad & Tobago Over Hosting US Warship

Venezuela considers Trinidad and Tobago’s cooperation with the US military as the Trump White House prepares for possible military action against the Caracas government to be a hostile act.

This after on Sunday the USS Gravely, which is outfitted with guided missiles, arrived in Trinidad to conduct joint exercises with Trinidad’s navy, but which was seen as a deep provocation by Caracas. 

For starters, Venezuela’s vice president Delcy Rodriguez said that key energy agreements with Trinidad and Tobago have been effectively canceled.

“Rodriguez, who is also Venezuela’s minister of hydrocarbons, said she would ask President Nicolas Maduro to withdraw from a 2015 agreement that enables neighboring countries to carry out joint natural gas exploration projects in the waters between both nations,” AP detailed. After this, President Maduro declared, “I have approved the measure.”

The USS Gravely is actually one of the very US naval vessels which has been involved in the campaign to destroy alleged drug trafficking speedboats off the Venezuelan coast.

“The prime minister of Trinidad has decided to join the war mongering agenda of the United States,” Vice President Rodriguez said on national television Monday.

By Tuesday, Venezuela declared Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to be persona non grata amid the escalating tensions.

Venezuela’s National Assembly quickly voted to impose the measure against Persad-Bissessar, formally barring her from entering the country.

STATEMENT: Venezuela denounces military provocation by Trinidad and Tobago in coordination with the CIA to provoke a war in the Caribbean pic.twitter.com/kS0EpaSGGT

— Camila (@camilapress) October 26, 2025

But interestingly Persad-Bissessar hit back, telling AFP, “Why would they think I would want to go to Venezuela?”

A mere seven miles of ocean lies between Trinidad and Venezuela at their closest point, but the Trinidad government is among the few Caribbean leaders to be openly supporting the major US military campaign in the region.