Trinidad and Tobago will open Caribbean nation's airports to US military as Venezuela tensions grow

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — The government of Trinidad and Tobago said Monday that it would allow the U.S. military to access its airports in coming weeks as tensions build between the United States and Venezuela.

The announcement comes after the U.S. military recently installed a radar system at the airport in Tobago. The Caribbean country's government has said the radar is being used to fight local crime, and that the small nation wouldn't be used as a launchpad to attack any other country.

The U.S. would use the airports for activity that would be "logistical in nature, facilitating supply replenishment and routine personnel rotations,” Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. It did not provide further details.

Trinidad’s prime minister previously has praised ongoing U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.

Only seven miles (11 kilometers) separate Venezuela from the twin-island Caribbean nation at their closest point. It has two main airports: Piarco International Airport in Trinidad and ANR Robinson International Airport in Tobago.

Hours after the announcement, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said her country was immediately canceling any contract, deal or negotiation to supply natural gas to Trinidad and Tobago.

She claimed that the government of Trinidad and Tobago participated in the recent U.S. seizure of an oil tanker off the country’s coast, calling it an “act of piracy.”

She also accused Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, of having a “hostile agenda” against Venezuela, noting that the U.S. military installed an airport radar in Tobago.

“This official has turned the territory of Trinidad and Tobago into a US aircraft carrier to attack Venezuela, in an unequivocal act of vassalage,” Rodríguez said.

The office of Trinidad's prime minister did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Trinidad and Venezuela had previously reached a deal over the development of a gas field in Venezuelan waters, near the maritime border separating the two countries.

In December 2023, Venezuela granted a license for oil giant Shell and Trinidad and Tobago to produce gas from the field. In October, the U.S. government granted Trinidad and Tobago permission to negotiate the gas deal without facing U.S sanctions placed on Venezuela.

Amery Browne, an opposition senator and Trinidad and Tobago's former foreign minister, accused the Trinidadian government on Monday of being deceptive in its announcement.

Browne said that Trinidad and Tobago has become “complicit facilitators of extrajudicial killings, cross-border tension and belligerence.”

“There is nothing routine about this. It has nothing to do with the usual cooperation and friendly collaborations that we have enjoyed with the USA and all of our neighbors for decades," he said.

He said the "blanket permission” with the U.S. takes the country “a further step down the path of a satellite state” and that it embraces a “'might is right' philosophy.”

American strikes began in September and have killed more than 80 people as Washington builds up a fleet of warships near Venezuela, including the largest U.S. aircraft carrier.

In October, an American warship docked in Trinidad's capital, Port-of-Spain, as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump boosts military pressure on Venezuela and President Nicolás Maduro.

U.S. lawmakers have questioned the legality of the strikes against vessels in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean, and recently announced that there would be a congressional review of them.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

FILE - The USS Gravely destroyer arrives to dock for military exercises in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Robert Taylor, File)

MILWAUKEE, (AP) — A prosecutor told jurors Monday that a Wisconsin judge said she would take the heat for directing an immigrant to go through a private door while federal agents waited in a courthouse to find and arrest him.

Opening remarks by Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Alexander kicked off an extraordinary trial for a public official. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan is charged with obstruction and concealment for her actions this spring during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The trial in federal court in Milwaukee will center on what happened when Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, reported to the county courthouse in April for a hearing on a state crime.

Authorities say Dugan led him out through a back door that led to a public corridor after she told immigration agents to speak with the chief judge about trying to arrest people at the courthouse.

“They did not expect a judge, sworn to uphold the law, would divide their arrest team and impede their efforts to do their jobs,” Alexander told the jury.

He said Dugan informed her court reporter that she would take the heat for helping Flores-Ruiz.

The government's case is expected to run through at least Thursday, with roughly two dozen witnesses lined up to testify. The first was FBI agent Erin Lucker who explained a video showing the back corridors of the courthouse and Dugan signaling to immigration officers to see Chief Judge Carl Ashley.

During his opening remarks, defense attorney Steven Biskupic said the judge had no intention of obstructing agents.

He said Dugan was following policy when she directed federal agents to Ashley’s office. Biskupic said other immigration agents still in the courthouse hallway decided not to arrest Flores-Ruiz when he emerged through the door and instead followed him outside the building.

“Now, after the fact, everyone wants to blame Judge Dugan," Biskupic said.

The maximum sentence for the more serious charge, obstruction, is five years in prison.

Flores-Ruiz was arrested after a foot chase. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in November that he had been deported after he pleaded no contest in the local battery case and was sentenced to time served.

Ahead of the trial, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman declined to dismiss the charges, saying there was no firmly established immunity for Dugan.

Democrats say Trump is looking to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to immigration arrests. Dugan told police she and her family found threatening flyers at their homes this spring. The administration has branded her an activist judge.

Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, a fierce Trump loyalist running for Wisconsin governor next year, urged authorities to “lock her up” in a recent tweet.

This courtroom sketch depicts Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan in court on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wis. (Adele Tesnow via AP, Pool)

This courtroom sketch depicts Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan in court as jury selection in her trial begins Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wis. (Adele Tesnow via AP)