The Caribbean countries that support the United States against Venezuela (and the allies that Maduro lost)

Since August of this year USA has deployed more than a dozen warships, a submarine, an aircraft carrier and thousands of marines in the Caribbeanas part of its pressure strategy on the regime Ripewhom he accuses of being the ringleader of the Cartel of the Sunsan alleged mafia that according to Washington floods the North American country with drugs.

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The US military force has carried out 21 attacks against vessels suspected of transporting drugs in the Caribbean and the Pacific, where 83 people have died.

The key countries for US operations at this time are Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, Panama and Guyana.

Trinidad and Tobago, from Maduro’s ally to supporting the US

The most sensitive loss of an ally for Ripe has been Trinidad and Tobagowhose government today explicitly supports the US military deployment and has even accepted that forces from that country use its territory.

At this point, it should be noted that the geographical distance shortest between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago is 11 km, separated by the Bocas del Dragón Strait.

This week, the prime minister of Trinidad and TobagoKamla Persad-Bissessar, confirmed that US Marines They installed a high-tech radar at the ANR Robinson International Airport to, he said, help combat the movement of sanctioned Venezuelan oil and drug trafficking.

Before, at the end of October, Trinidad and Tobago had received the American warship USS Gravely. And from November 16 to 21, Trinidadian and US military forces held joint exercises.

Since 2015 Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago They had signed a gas agreement to develop a shared field on the maritime border, including the project Dragon Field. However, due to its collaboration with Washington, Caracas suspended the agreement and has declared Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar persona non grata.

Venezuela denounces that Trinidad and Tobago is becoming a platform for US military operations in the Caribbean.

In August, when the United States military deployment began, Persad-Bissessar stated in a statement that this movement of forces was “to destroy the terrorist drug cartels and has the full support of the government of Trinidad and Tobago.”

“The only people who should be concerned about US military activity are those who participate in or facilitate criminal activities. “Law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear,” he added.

Dominican Republic, Panama and Guyana

In the case of Dominican Republichas allowed the United States to use facilities such as airports and bases for its current operations in the Caribbean.

Traditionally, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic have had diplomatic relations and cooperative ties. However, this was broken when In 2019, Santo Domingo recognized the opposition Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuelarejecting the Maduro regime.

Then, in July 2024, after Maduro’s fraudulent re-election, there was a formal diplomatic break.

In response, the government of Ripe announced the suspension of all consular services in the Dominican Republic and described the statements of the Dominican authorities as “interference in internal affairs.”

As to Panamauntil mid-2024 had relatively normal diplomatic and commercial relations with Venezuela. There were consular links, commercial cooperation and flights between both countries.

However, after Maduro’s questioned re-election, On July 29, 2024, Panama suspended diplomatic relations with Venezuela and withdrew his diplomatic corps in Caracas. Despite this, bilateral trade was not immediately interrupted.

In 2025, Panama and Venezuela reactivated their consular services. However, Panama clarified that it was not worth restoring full diplomatic connections.

In this context, recently Panama has authorized the carrying out of United States military exercises in its territoryunder bilateral cooperation agreements.

The government of President José Raúl Mulino has said publicly that these exercises They are not directed against Venezuela.

In any case, the authorization for US operations on Panamanian soil implies that the canal nation participates, in fact, in the logistics network that the United States articulates in the Caribbean.

In the case of Guyana, country that maintains a territorial dispute with Venezuelais cooperating with the United States on security and drug trafficking issues, has supported operations in the Caribbean and has offered access to its ports so that American vessels can dock.

How does the US weave its network of alliances?

According to defense and intelligence specialist Andrés Gómez de la Torre, the strategy of political-military rapprochement of the United States with key Caribbean countries seeks to consolidate a network of logistical and diplomatic support against the Maduro regime. He added that this offensive responds to a “pincer strategy”” designed to create favorable conditions for eventual operations in airspace, maritime space or even within Venezuelan territory.

The expert emphasizes that this approach responds to Washington’s interest in securing strategic infrastructure, such as airports and portswhich could function as logistics platforms —a kind of “land aircraft carrier”— in a scenario of greater escalation of the conflict.

The recent visits to the Caribbean by senior US officials, including authorities from the Pentagon and the Southern Command, are part of this diplomatic offensive that combines political gestures with security cooperation agreements, he maintains.

Gómez de la Torre points out that a sign of the growing pressure in the Caribbean is also the approach of the United States to Suriname, country visited by the head of the Southern Command, Alvin Holsey. Although there is no formal statement of support for an eventual siege against Venezuelaits inclusion in the US security agenda reinforces the perception of a progressive isolation of Caracas in its immediate surroundingshe adds.

For his part, ambassador Juan Álvarez Vita highlights The Commerce that the progressive alignment of several countries of the Caribbean around USA responds to a combination of geostrategic interests, military pressure and reconfiguration of energy alliances in the region.

“Militarily, the United States is cornering Venezuela. The logical thing is that the States seek alliances with those who have the greatest capacity for pressure and control in the region,” manifests.

“Trinidad and Tobago has allowed the installation of a powerful radarofficially to combat drug trafficking and monitor compliance with the oil embargo on Venezuela. That, without a doubt, generates economic consequences, and the United States will have to compensate for it, probably by facilitating oil supplies,” explains the diplomat.

For the ambassador, This bloc aligned with the United States not only has military value, but also political and diplomatic value.especially if the Venezuelan case reaches multilateral bodies such as the OAS.

“Trinidad and Tobago may be a small country, but it has a vote in the OAS. And the United States is going to need those votes if it decides to take the Venezuelan scenario to the institutional level,” holds.

Álvarez Vita says that Washington would be betting on new forms of pressure: air restrictions, maritime controls, silencing of communications and economic blockade. “It is a war with new weapons. The growing alliance with Trinidad and Tobago, given its location, is practically like setting foot inside Venezuela”.

Given the hypothesis of direct intervention by the United States in Venezuelathe diplomat does not believe that the risk of losing support is a decisive brake for Washington. “The United States has acted unilaterally before, such as in Grenada in 1983 or Panama in 1989. Its priority is its political and economic interests, even above international law,” remember.

“The panorama we are seeing is that of a siege that is closed by land, air and sea. Venezuela has practically everything to lose, unless there is a significant shift in the international balance.”he concludes.