National Security Minister, Stuart Young

Copies of an exemption letter to the Immigration Division are circulating.

The letter tells of permission for Venezuela’s Vice President to visit Trinidad and Tobago, and lists the names of those who were part of her delegation.

The government has been saying it was not aware of the names of the members of the delegation who accompanied Vice President Delcy Rodriguez in March this year.

A story in today’s Express Newspaper says the letter from the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security said the Minister, Stuart Young, granted permission for the group to enter the country, even though the borders were closed.

The story says the letter dated, March 26^th named 6 persons, apart from Vice President Rodriguez.

The meeting between Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and Ms. Rodriguez has become controversial in recent days.

The letter was addressed to Chief Immigration Officer Charmaine Gandhi-Andrews.

Among the names were two officials from the state oil company in Venezuela, PDVSA.

The letter said the group was scheduled to leave Venezuela’s on March 27^th.

According to the letter from PS Gary Joseph permission to enter the Republic was granted and it asked that arrangements be made by immigration to facilitate entry.

And yesterday in the Senate the National Security Minister, Stuart Young sought to dismiss talk of Trinidad and Tobago being in breach of the Rio Treaty, after meeting with Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.

The Minister was asked to respond to reports, which quote the United States Embassy in Port of Spain as saying Vice President Rodriguez is a sanctioned individual.

The question came from Opposition Senator Wade Mark in the Upper House yesterday.

Minister Young appeared not to be too concerned about what is reported to have come from the Embassy.

He said the relationship between his country and the U.S. remains solid.

The visit to this country by Vice President Rodriguez has been under scrutiny over the past week.

The Venezuelan government official is reported to have asked for the meeting with Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley.

The government says the meeting was short and dealt with the COVID-19 issue.

But opposition representatives have cast doubt on the stated intention of the talks and hints at a link between the visit and an oil shipment, which left the country for Aruba but reportedly ended up in Venezuela.

In a response to two daily newspapers yesterday the U.S. Embassy said its government is aware of the reported shipment of fuel and will investigate any attempts by the Nicolas Maduro government to circumvent transactions in light of the sanctions against its officials.