VENEZUELAN President Nicolás Maduro last week Wednesday very quietly signed into law the results of the referendum that lays claim to the Essequibo region-ie, the annexation of two-thirds of Guyana.

He seems emboldened by the way the current Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine wars are going, and the prior ‘boldfacedness’ of the former colonialist and imperialist powers-the UK and US. There has scarcely been a word about this troubling event.

Trinidad and Tobago needs the Dragon gas deal more than Venezuela. What will our Government now do? Will it go along with the Caricom declaration of support for Guyana? Will it dump Guyana in favour of the Dragon gas deal with Maduro?

Will Maduro lay claim to T&T next? It is not that we have much to give him, in terms of oil and gas. But one never knows.

Have we re-entered the age of land-grabbing dictators or socialist feudalism? Adolf Hitler’s Anschluss of Austria, in 1938, is a serious cautionary tale.

Maduro has shown he is not to be trusted under any circumstances. Is this the beginning of an unwanted war in South America and the Caribbean?

Let us keep praying it does not happen.

Linus F Didier Mt Hope