MADURO HAS ROWLEY JUMPY

THE Government of Dr. Keith Rowley is getting increasingly jumpy over the Dragon Gas deal, which is its general election trump card.

The administration is concerned that Venezuelan tyrant Nicholas Maduro would take strong offence to a report that the United States could station troops in Trinidad and Tobago.

Rowley virtually conceded that during his heated response to a Newsday report.

“When this shows in Caracas, (they will ask) where is this coming from?” the Prime Minister said during his angry outburst.

His fiery statement was issued amid a warning from Maduro to Caricom.

The Venezuelan despot that “the Southern Command is there provoking our region and Venezuela is here, ready and well positioned to defend its historical rights.”

The US Southern Command, stationed in Florida, is a powerful combatant unit of the US Department of Defence.

Diplomatic and other sources also concluded that anxiety over Dragon Gas prompted Rowley’s furious response to the newspaper report.

The Prime Minister angrily denied the newspaper’s assessment of a military agreement between T&T and the US.

The pact strengthens security, energy, cyber-security and human rights cooperation between both countries.

The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) allows for close collaboration between the armed forces of both countries.

A senior US official said the Americans are committed to deepening strategic relations “on a host of issues.”

Newsday, referencing a similar Department of Defence agreement with Guyana, said that “US troops can be stationed in TT.”

The newspaper cited an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement between the US and Guyana.

Rowley saw red and delivered a furious tirade against the media, and especially Newsday.

Political analysts agreed that Rowley over-reacted to the newspaper’s SOFA accord, and diplomatic sources said the Prime Minister may be anxious over a possible Dragon Gas fallout.

The lucrative cross-border natural gas project has been the subject of much speculation since Donald Trump was re-elected US President.

Trump is appointing Marco Rubio, an anti-Maduro hardliner, as Secretary of State.

The US authorities are expected to bring intense pressure on Maduro to demit office, including imposing stringent new economic sanctions.

The Americans recognise opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as winner of the July 28 presidential election.

“The Trinidad and Tobago administration may be sitting on pins and needles over the future of this project,” one knowledgeable source said.

“The incoming US administration would have a firmer policy on Caracas, and the Trinidad and Tobago Government would not want to be seen as partisan.”

International reports say that Maduro is ruling with fear and terror and violently cracking down on opponents.

New York Times reported last week that some opponents are in hiding, with little food or water.

Apart the tough Rubio as the US top diplomat, Ambassador to T&T Candace Bond is likely to be replaced by a Trump insider.

One commentator said: “Rowley is doing a balancing act for his own political good.”

The Government has promoted the gas project as the way out of T&T’s current economic woes, but the new political circumstances in Washington could jeopardise the monetising of the abundant resource.

Rowley’s anti-media outburst showed that he is taking no chances with his major economic plum.