As diplo­mat­ic ten­sions in­ten­si­fy be­tween the Unit­ed States and Venezuela, fu­elled by sanc­tions, mil­i­tary pos­tur­ing and in­creas­ing­ly sharp rhetoric, po­lit­i­cal an­a­lyst Derek Ram­samooj says the re­al­i­ty on the ground in Venezuela tells a very dif­fer­ent sto­ry, one not de­fined by fear or un­cer­tain­ty, but by Christ­mas lights and sea­son­al cel­e­bra­tion.

Satel­lite im­agery yes­ter­day showed US mil­i­tary air­craft main­tain­ing a pres­ence off the coast of Venezuela, as the Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump-or­dered block­ade con­tin­ued.

Amid con­cerns that a po­ten­tial con­flict be­tween the Unit­ed States and Venezuela could spill over in­to Trinidad and To­ba­go, the Es­tate Po­lice As­so­ci­a­tion (EPA) has warned that its mem­bers are not ad­e­quate­ly equipped to pro­tect the coun­try’s crit­i­cal in­fra­struc­ture and high-risk as­sets.

Venezue­lan na­tion­al Manuel Con­teras works long hours at a sawmill in Pe­nal, his hands rough­ened by wood and his face etched with wor­ry. As mil­i­tary ships, radar in­stal­la­tions, and new sanc­tions tight­en around Venezuela, his hope of earn­ing enough to move his large fam­i­ly out of Tu­cu­pi­ta in the Orinoco Delta re­mains out of reach.

A 32-year-old moth­er of two from Ch­agua­nas, who ad­mit­ted to in­cit­ing vi­o­lence to­wards Gov­ern­ment mem­bers in a se­ries of so­cial me­dia posts, has been placed on a three-year bond.

With less than a month to go be­fore the MV Cabo Star is ex­pect­ed to leave Trinidad and To­ba­go, a for­mer Port ex­ec­u­tive has warned that if a re­place­ment ves­sel is not al­ready near­by, it will be im­pos­si­ble for it to be op­er­a­tional by Jan­u­ary 12.

Min­is­ter of Works and In­fra­struc­ture Jear­lean John has clar­i­fied that her min­istry is not re­spon­si­ble for the Na­tion­al Pro­gramme for the Up­keep of Pub­lic Spaces (NPUPS), amid pub­lic ques­tions about the ini­tia­tive’s progress and mon­i­tor­ing.

A High Court Judge has or­dered a lit­tle over $90,000 in com­pen­sa­tion to two men, who were beat­en by prison of­fi­cers dur­ing a ri­ot at the Gold­en Grove State Prison in Arou­ca.

A High Court Judge has per­ma­nent­ly stayed the pros­e­cu­tion of a 62-year-old man, ac­cused of mur­der­ing a one-year-old ba­by dur­ing a do­mes­tic dis­pute with her grand­moth­er and moth­er in 2021, af­ter pros­e­cu­tors sought to with­draw a plea deal for a less­er of­fence. 

More than 24 hours af­ter Der­rick “Stones” Tardieu was re­leased by kid­nap­pers along the North Coast of Trinidad af­ter a ran­som com­prised of both TT and US cur­ren­cy was paid, ne­go­ti­a­tions were said to be con­tin­u­ing to se­cure the safe re­lease of his wife Clara­belle Tardieu.

To­ba­go po­lice are urg­ing mo­torists to be cau­tious on the is­land’s roads af­ter a car plunged over a precipice and in­to the sea fol­low­ing a two-ve­hi­cle col­li­sion along Mil­ford Road, Lam­beau, yes­ter­day morn­ing.

A 55-year-old man died af­ter he was elec­tro­cut­ed while work­ing on a rooftop at his home in Plum Mi­tan, Biche, on Wednes­day.