PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Venezuela, now in international headlines as a likely asylum home for US espionage fugitive Edward Snowden, is also worthy of heightened attention in bilateral relations with Trinidad and Tobago. As he registered his presence in T&T during this month’s CARICOM talks, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro followed a trail blazed by US Vice President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Though each of the three leaders identified and pursued specific national interests, it is the man next door, who will likely cast the longest-lasting shadow on T&T. Its geographically closest neighbour enjoys ties with T&T that include history, culture and, more urgently today, energy. Following the pattern of the late Hugo Chavez, President Maduro has been seeking to extend the diplomatic and political outreach of Venezuela. Now chairman of Mercosur, the Southern Common Market, he proposed to “broaden the horizons of Mercosur in the Caribbean” through closer association with CARICOM.
