An oil spill originating from Trinidad and Tobago reached the coasts of Venezuela, surpassing in magnitude the spill recorded in May, according to the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Venezuelan government did not specify the exact locations of the oil spill and referred to a “risk to marine ecosystems, fishing activity, and coastal communities”.
Relations between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, a small archipelago located about ten kilometers from the Venezuelan coast, have been tense for several years.
Caracas stated that the spill was confirmed “by satellite imagery” and noted that several entities had activated monitoring and mitigation protocols to protect the affected coasts.
Venezuela urged the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to take immediate measures to prevent further incidents and to ensure “total transparency about the causes, scope, and consequences of this spill”.
The government of President Delcy Rodríguez added that it reserves the right to take appropriate measures with international bodies to “determine responsibilities, seek compensation where appropriate, and prevent the repetition of similar events”.
On May 9, Caracas warned of an oil spill originating from Trinidad and Tobago with a “grave environmental impact” on the Gulf of Paria, shared by both countries, and on coastal areas of the Venezuelan states of Sucre and Delta Amacuro (northeast).
A day later, Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Energy, Roodal Moonilal, told the Spanish news agency EFE that no hydrocarbon spill from his country was visible.
Subsequently, Venezuela sought compensation for the consequences of the hydrocarbon spill in the waters, coasts, ecosystems and fishing communities of Venezuela.
The Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yván Gil, stated on May 18 that his country had sent several communications to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to assess the impact of the spill.
The head of Caracas’s diplomacy then warned of an impact on 1,625 square kilometers across twelve systems of strategic wetlands, as well as on the activity of more than five hundred fishermen, and indicated that four national parks were at risk.
Up to that moment, more than twelve tons of hydrocarbon products had been collected, according to the official, who added that between 2015 and 2023 there had been more than 876 spills of different types of compounds in the area.
Relations began to deteriorate after Kamla Persad-Bissessar came to power in 2025, adopting a hard line against Venezuelan immigration and aligning with the United States before the arrest of former President Nicolás Maduro in January.
In February 2024, an oil spill caused by the sinking of an oil tanker in the waters of Trinidad and Tobago also reached the Venezuelan territorial waters.
