TRINIDAD — The U.S. Navy’s recent strikes on Venezuelan drug-running boats have rattled nerves across the Caribbean, leaving the small island nation of Trinidad and Tobago caught in the middle of rising regional tensions.
Over the past month, the United States has stepped up operations against Venezuelan smuggling networks in the Caribbean. Several fast boats suspected of trafficking drugs were destroyed in international waters. But for fishermen in Trinidad — only seven miles from Venezuela — those strikes felt far too close for comfort.
Here at the Gulf of Paria, we observed the closest point that you can get in Trinidad to Venezuela. CBN News traveled in a boat near a route that smugglers take if they’re bringing drugs or people across to Trinidad. There’s now a heavy presence of the Coast Guard of the Trinidad and Tobago Armed Forces that patrols this area.
But most of the smuggling here takes place late at night, and the fishermen who ply these waters today, just trying to make a livin,g are now being told not to go more than two kilometers from the shore, for the time being, because they’re all afraid of getting blown up.
Trinidad’s Coast Guard has imposed new restrictions, ordering local boats to stay close to shore until tensions ease. That’s been tough for the country’s small fishing communities — men who depend on these waters to feed their families.
Local fisherman Sean Phillip said, “I’m a fisherman for 28 years, fishing in Trinidad and Tobago. With the conflict going on in Venezuela and Trinidad, we are all panicking for what is going on. The Coast Guard says about two kilometers off the island — don’t go that direction — but people are still fishing. Venezuela is seven miles away from Trinidad, very, very close. You can see a vehicle passing on the land — it’s very close.”
The fear is understandable. From Trinidad’s western shores, the lights of Venezuela are visible at night, and any escalation between the two countries would hit here first.
Our next stop was Chacachacare Island, which is the furthest west you can go toward Venezuela in the northern part of Trinidad, about seven miles away from the closest point in Venezuela. You can see here why people in Trinidad are concerned about the conflict that might be brewing between the United States and Venezuela, simply because the Trinidadians know that wars have a way of spreading. And if they do, these people are not prepared for that in any way, shape or form.
The government has a long history of working with the United States — most recently welcoming the USS Gravely for joint military training. That alliance has drawn sharp criticism from Venezuela, which responded by canceling oil contracts worth millions. But local journalists say the American presence is also choking off the flow of drugs and illegal migration across these waters.
***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a Christian perspective.***
“Crime Watch” Host Ian Alleyne told us, “You will realize now that based on what’s happening there, even our local Coast Guard, they’re playing a very pivotal role in protecting the borders. So now they have a restriction that they have indicated to the fishermen in the Carcass — they can’t go beyond two miles. As much as they are complaining right now — and it’s been hard, it’s very, very challenging for the fishermen whose daily lives depend on fishing — at the end of the day, it has to be like that for now. It must be like that for now.”
The increased patrols may have disrupted the drug trade, but they’ve also fueled political friction. Many in Trinidad worry their country could be drawn into the conflict.
“Recently, we had a military exercise. So as a result of that, you know, they’re saying that’s provocation. The Venezuelans are saying that that is provocation,” Alleyne said. “But you realize that the Maduro administration, they are not talking — they are sending out the message. All they want is peace. But they are targeting our government. They are calling the Prime Minister a terrorist, all sorts of things.”
After the Trump administration briefed Congress that the United States currently has no legal justification to strike inside Venezuela, lawmakers were told any direct action against the Maduro regime would require fresh legal authority and a new strategic decision from the president.
For the people of Trinidad, that news brings a brief sigh of relief — but the fear of what could come next still lingers.
