VENEZUELA has suspended energy agreements with Trinidad & Tobago for hosting US warships terrorising the Caribbean.

The USS Gravely docked in Trinidad on Sunday for joint exercises with its navy — at a time when US vessels, part of a huge military build-up in the region, have been blowing up boats off Venezuela, illegally killing their crews on unevidenced claims they are drug-smugglers.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused Trinidad of becoming an “aircraft carrier of the US empire” as its joint naval manoeuvres with Washington take place “right in front of Venezuela’s coast.”

The US has deployed its biggest military mission to the Caribbean in decades, with 10,000 troops aboard warships — including the largest aircraft carrier in existence, the USS Gerald R Ford — and amphibious assault vessels, backed by bomber flyovers along the Venezuelan coastline. Its strikes on boats in Venezuelan and international waters have so far killed at least 43 people.

Fears it is mooting all-out war on Venezuela — whose government’s socialist politics have long offended US President Donald Trump — were reinforced last week when Colombian President Gustavo Petro said recent US claims he was complicit in the illegal drug trade were motivated by his refusal to co-operate with a land invasion of his neighbour.

Mr Maduro said Venezuelan operatives had foiled a CIA plot using mercenaries to sabotage US vessels off Trinidad, which could serve as a false flag operation to claim Venezuela had first attacked the US.

“They are looking for a regime change to steal oil, gas, gold, water. We have an impressive aquifer reservoir throughout the country,” he warned.

Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world.

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the naval exercises were for “internal security” only. She is among the only regional leaders to have expressed support for the US’s spree of extrajudicial killings in the region.

Caribbean Labour Solidarity will be picketing the Trinidad High Commission, 42 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8NT, from noon to 1pm tomorrow, October 29, in protest at Trinidad & Tobago’s backing for US aggression against Venezuela. It welcomes additional picketers.