Confusing signals

The New York Times has described the United States’ policy towards Venezuela as “incoherent.”

As evidence, it cited conflicting comments made by US President Donald Trump last week. He said he wouldn’t put troops into Venezuela, but also wouldn’t rule ground troops out. On Thanksgiving Day, during a call to American service officers, he said operations targeting Venezuelan drug trafficking networks would be expanding to land very soon. He said he would negotiate with Maduro on the same day the US State Department named Maduro the leader of a designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation.

The evidence is increasingly looking like a regime change exercise. The size of the US naval deployment, which includes an aircraft carrier group, is much greater than the support required for an anti-narcotics operation. Further, US warships are positioned near the Venezuelan coast in locations far from Caribbean drug-smuggling routes. This suggests that the buildup is focused more on a pressure campaign against Venezuela than on the counternarcotics operation the Trump administration says it’s waging.

Last week, six major international airlines temporarily suspended their routes into the capital, Caracas, after the US warned of “heightened military activity” in the area. On Saturday, President Trump posted on his social media account that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela is to be closed “in its entirety.”

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has continued to speak about the US deployment in the region in the context of anti-drug trafficking measures. The same was said of the joint military exercises between the Defence Force and US armed forces personnel two weeks ago. Last Friday, the Prime Minister said she withheld full details on the presence of United States military personnel in Tobago in the interest of national security. She described the installation of radar equipment at the Tobago airport as a sensitive national issue which provides for the security of our territory and citizens.

The Prime Minister also noted that radar installations and other military facilities will be upgraded in Trinidad. She sought to dismiss concerns that radar would be used in any action against Venezuela and that the equipment would be used for monitoring and surveillance of our territory.

The difficulty is that the Prime Minister’s explanations are at variance with her actions, so that credibility has been lost. In these circumstances, many citizens feel that there is more than meets the eye. The frequent presence of US armed forces, the unusual visit by General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggests this is not business as usual, especially given this country’s proximity to Venezuela and the potential for hostile military engagement.

Despite President Trump’s inconsistent and apparent incoherence towards Venezuela, the US military presence and actions in the region, and the establishment of radar equipment installed and controlled by US armed forces on our soil, send a disturbing picture that the preconditions for US military intervention in Venezuela are in place. Citizens are concerned that Trinidad and Tobago could be a forward operating base for any military intervention in Venezuela.

What is unsettling is that many activities point in that direction. This has aroused fear and anxiety about what will come next and our ability to deal with the repercussions. It is unclear whether this administration is being led by the events or has deliberately chosen to be part of this game. More importantly, the fear is that this may not be in our best interests.