2 days Ago
Prime Minister Stuart Young naturally tried to put the best spin on his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jamaica last week. Young’s take and Mr Rubio’s however reveal somewhat different priorities. In the post-Cabinet news conference last Thursday, the Prime Minister focused on energy security, saying that Secretary Rubio had assured him that “US foreign policy is in no way meant to affect or harm Trinidad and Tobago, in particular, with what we are doing for energy security.
” However, in a post on his official X (formerly Twitter) account made on the evening of the March 26 meeting with Young, Rubio led with his discussion about the threat posed by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, followed by “thanks for the Prime Minister’s strong cooperation on energy security, deportation of illegal aliens, and work to limit malign influence in the region.” Venezuelan gangs would inevitably be at the top of Mr Rubio’s agenda since, just one week before his meeting with Caribbean leaders, a US district court judge blocked deportations of the Tren de Aragua gang members to a prison in El Salvador. Mr Rubio would have been briefed on the threat that Venezuelan gangs pose in Trinidad and Tobago.
A 2024 report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) noted that local gangs are “heavily involved in managing human smuggling in partnership with Venezuelan counterparts” and “the primary supply route for drugs to Trinidad and Tobago is Venezuela and to a lesser extent Guyana and Suriname.” In response, Prime Minister Young has already started the process for declaring Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organisation, which will no doubt be viewed positively by the US administration. As for energy security, the Secretary of State’s negative phrasing is significant.
He made no promises that America would protect or even support T&T’s energy projects, only that US policy was not intended to undermine such initiatives. Rubio’s wording contrasts with his X post about his meeting with Guyana’s president Irfaan Ali, in which he stated in no uncertain terms that “The United States stands with Guyana in support of its territorial integrity against the Maduro regime.” Prime Minister Young, however, says he told Rubio that T&T has “a relationship with Venezuela that can be beneficial for the region and the Western Hemisphere because there’s a lot of built-up respect.
” Will that argument fly with US policymakers or will they see that relationship as contrary to American interests? In an executive order issued on March 24, US President Donald Trump declared that the Nicolás Maduro regime poses “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” So, when Secretary Rubio lists “malign influence” in his post about his meeting with Prime Minister Young, that is what the T&T government must focus on. In his X posts on his meetings with other Caribbean leaders, Rubio’s common refrain included illegal immigration, transnational organised crime, and regional security.
These are the keys to fostering a productive relationship with the current US administration..
