LatinNews Daily - 24 September 2026

*Venezuela’s President Delcy Rodriguez and Trinidad & Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar have held a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in which they hailed a “new era in bilateral relations” and agreed on a work agenda aimed at “strengthening exchange and mutual benefit in the areas of trade, energy, security, disaster risk management, environmental protection, agriculture, tourism, air connectivity and culture”, according to a joint statement. It is the latest sign of improving ties between the two countries, which share three cross-border natural gas fields – Loran/Manatee, Dragon/Hibiscus, and Manakin/Cocuina – following a visit to Venezuela earlier this month by Trinidad & Tobago’s foreign minister, Sean Sobers. Bilateral relations had deteriorated sharply since Persad-Bissessar took office in May 2025. Her strong support for US military strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug trafficking boats led Venezuela’s former president Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026) to announce the suspension of energy cooperation between the two countries in October 2025. The joint statement between Rodríguez and Persad-Bissessar announced that the two leaders had agreed to pay official visits to Caracas and Port of Spain while the Venezuelan government indicated that Persad-Bissessar, who was declared persona non grata in Caracas by Venezuela’s national assembly in October, “was indeed Persona Grata in Venezuela”.

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