Just how far the influence of the United States extends in applying strong pressures on out-of-favour political administrations was again reflected last week when Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley broke the news to his country that what had promised to be an economically game-changing bilateral agreement between his country and Venezuela for the exploitation of a gas-rich area shared by the two countries had been put on hold.
And while Dr Rowley avoided making a huge political ‘deal’ out of the development while speaking at his country’s 2020 Energy Conference in Port of Spain last week, asserting that it was “regrettable” that the natural gas exploitation project could not go ahead at this time, he dropped an unmistakable hint that the sidelining of a project for which he said “virtually all the preparatory work has been done,” had resulted from what, currently, is the United States’ preoccupation with imposing a level of economic pressure that would force the government of President Nicholas Maduro out of office.
