Trinidad and Tobago to give US access to its airports as Venezuela tensions grow

The government of Trinidad and Tobago has announced it will allow the US military access to its airports in coming weeks as tensions build between the US and Venezuela.

The announcement follows the recent installation of a radar system at the airport in Tobago. The Caribbean country’s government has said the radar is being used to fight local crime, and that it would not be used as a launchpad to attack any other country.

But critics of the government say Trinidad and Tobago risks being drawn into Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.

The US would use the airports for activities “logistical in nature, facilitating supply replenishment and routine personnel rotations”, Trinidad and Tobago’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement on Monday. It did not provide further details.

Trinidad’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has praised US strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific that have killed at least 87 people including several Trinidadian citizens.

Persad-Bissessar initially said a US C-17 aircraft that had landed in Tobago was carrying marines to assist with a road construction project. But after images emerged of the radar installation, she admitted that at least 100 marines were in the country, along with a military-grade radar, believed to be a long-range, high-performance AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR, which the US defence company Northrop Grumman says is used for air surveillance, defence and counter-fire.

Only seven miles separate Venezuela from the twin-island Caribbean nation at their closest point. It has two main airports: Piarco international in Trinidad and ANR Robinson international in Tobago.

In October, a US warship docked in Trinidad’s capital as the administration of Donald Trump increases military pressure on Venezuela.

US lawmakers have questioned the legality of the strikes against vessels in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific and recently announced a congressional review.