Venezuela threatens to end Trinidad gas deals over US alliance

Bloomberg News on Oct 27, 2025

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Venezuela is threatening to revoke energy deals with neighboring Trinidad and Tobago for its support of a U.S. military offensive in the Caribbean, potentially raising the economic cost of the twin-island nation’s alliance with the Trump administration.

Speaking on state television, Venezuelan Vice President and Oil Minister Delcy Rodríguez asked President Nicolás Maduro to revoke an energy framework agreement with Trinidad that allowed the two countries to forge gas deals.

Trinidad needs Venezuelan gas to replenish supply to the industrial backbone of its fragile economy.

Trinidad’s government has developed a “hostile attitude” and a “warlike plan” against Venezuela, Rodríguez said, by “siding” with the U.S.’s “military agenda.”

Trinidad’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has previously said she welcomed the U.S. offensive on drug traffickers, calling for them to be killed “violently.”

Her posture has alienated Trinidad from other English-language countries in the Caribbean that have insisted on maintaining the region as a “zone of peace.”

Venezuelan rhetoric is escalating as the U.S. advances a military campaign, blowing up purported drug boats and pointing a finger at Maduro and, increasingly, Colombian President Gustavo Petro for allegedly flooding the U.S. with fentanyl and cocaine.

The U.S. is ramping up its deployment in the southern Caribbean, with a guided missile destroyer docking in Trinidad on Sunday, according to CBS News.

The Trump administration recently granted Trinidad limited permission to import Venezuelan gas after it had canceled an earlier approval in April. The on-and-off-and-on-again waivers from U.S. sanctions on Venezuela have shaken Trinidad, whose economy depends on exports of liquefied gas, petrochemicals and fertilizers.

Rodríguez’s latest broadside follows Venezuelan accusations over the weekend that Trinidad is involved in a “false flag” plot with the U.S. to stage an attack on Trinidadian soil.

“The Petróleos de Venezuela board has decided to propose the immediate termination of the energy cooperation framework agreement between Venezuela and Trinidad, which was signed in 2015 for a 10-year term and renewed this year for another five years,” said Rodríguez, referring to Venezuela’s national oil company.

Since early September, U.S. forces have disclosed attacks on 10 boats allegedly linked to drug trafficking, with at least 40 deaths.

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