[UPDATED] Young: US envoy did not complain about Venezuelan VP

MINISTER in the Office of the Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Stuart Young said US Ambassador Joseph Mondello did not cite a possible breach of the Rio Treaty to complain to him about Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez's recent visit to TT when the two men spoke recently.

In the Senate on Wednesday, Young replied to an opposition question to the prime minister.

Senator Wade Mark had asked, "In light of a recent statement by the US Embassy that this country violated the Rio Treaty by allowing the Venezuelan vice president to land here, has the Government initiated any discussions with the US with a view to averting any repercussions?"

With Venezuela under US sanctions because of alleged election-rigging, the US embassy had said Rodriguez had violated travel sanctions levied against her under the Rio Treaty.

While the Government said her visit was to discuss the covid19 pandemic, the Opposition criticised the presence of PDVSA (the Venezuelan state-owned oil company) officials in her delegation, and a Paria Fuel Trading oil shipment sold to Aruba but ending up in Venezuela, days after her visit.

Young said the Government's position has always been one of non-interference in Venezuela's affairs, a position adopted by Caricom and also the UN, whose secretary general declared the UN recognises the Nicolas Maduro administration.

"At this stage and at all stages, this administration has no horse in the race. Furthermore, our relationship with the US continues to be a very strong one."

Young said the US is one of TT's "most significant allies," as shown by the two countries' collaboration in a $663 million drug haul recently.

"The mischief that is continuing by certain persons in TT – and it started with fuel supply and then when that was explained, then talking about a plane and the manifest of a plane, and now this – I'd just like to put it on record that the US continues to be one of our strongest allies. We continue to have open channels of communication with them.

"Furthermore, I may just caution that all that seems, and all they seem to be relying on here with respect to the treaty, may not in fact be as they believe it to be."

Mark asked if the Government was aware of a US government statement on TT's alleged violation of the Rio Treaty.

Young replied, "We continue to have open channels of communication. In fact, last week the USGovernment’s head and top diplomat in TTo, that is the ambassador, not any underling who may or may not be speaking to the media, the US ambassador, had a conversation with me, as a representative of the Cabinet level of the Government, and there were other conversations and there was no raising of the breach of any treaty."

Mark asked if the Government was aware of the grave risk to TT's economy suggested by the recent statement by the US Government, but Senate President Christine Kangaloo disallowed that supplemental question.

Opposition Senator Saddam Hosein later tried to raise Rodriguez's visit as a definite matter of urgent public importance, saying the US embassy had alleged it was a breach of the Rio Treaty with possible ramifications, but Kangaloo disallowed it.

Editor's note: The original version of this story mistakenly reportd that National Security Minister Stuart Young had said that at his meeting with the  US ambassador, "There was no raising of the Rio Treaty."
The quotation of the topic in this corrected version of the story is that cited by Mr Young as being taken from the Hansard record of his answer.

We apologise for the error.