Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves has urged both Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela to exercise restraint and resolve their differences peacefully and in line with international law.
“All I would like to do is to urge both neighbours to continue to act peacefully in accordance with international law,” Gonsalves said in an interview with Guardian Media.
He warned against inflaming the situation with strong language. “As far as practicable, we do not incline the situation with any excessive rhetoric. We just take our patience into account. And whatever is the problem, we solve them maturely between two neighbours.”
Tensions between T&T and Venezuela escalated last week after Venezuelan Justice
Minister Diosdado Cabello alleged on his programme Con El Mazo Dando, that a Trinidadian by the name of “Guis Kendell Jerome” – had been captured en route to Venezuela with a group labelled “terrorists” in an attempt to destabilise their government.
Senior police officials in that country have since confirmed that the person named by Cabello had not appeared in T&T’s criminal database.
During last Thursday’s post-Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar added to the issue as she delivered a deadly warning to Venezuela that T&T was off-limits.
