It Could Happen Here – Episode Summary

Episode Title:

How the US attacks on Venezuela Impact Trinidad and Tobago with Andrew
Date: September 25, 2025
Hosts: Andrew Sage (aka andrewism), James Stout

Overview

This episode explores the cascading impacts of recent US military actions against Venezuela, specifically focusing on how these moves are shaping the politics, security, and daily lives of neighboring Trinidad and Tobago. Drawing on history and first-hand context, co-host Andrew Sage, who is Trinidadian, delves into:

• The recent US bombings of alleged “drug boats” in the Caribbean,
• Trinidad’s shifting diplomatic stance under its new Prime Minister, Kamala Persad-Bissessar,
• The regional dynamics between the US, Venezuela, Guyana, China, and Trinidad,
• The risks posed by these geopolitical maneuvers to ordinary citizens,
• The historical entanglement of US-Trinidad relations.

Main Discussion Points and Insights

1. Background: Trinidad’s Political Turmoil and US Actions

(03:13–06:00)

• US Strike on “Drug Vessel” (03:13):
  The spark for current tensions: US military bombed an alleged Venezuela-linked drug boat in the Caribbean; no evidence provided for its criminality.
• Prime Minister’s Aggressive Stance:
  New PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar publicly championed the strike, saying she had “no sympathy for traffickers and that the US should kill them all violently.”

  "She has no sympathy for traffickers and that the US should kill them all violently." – Andrew Sage (03:55)

• Domestic Fallout:
  Kamla’s administration is marred by mass layoffs, canceled celebrations, and a pattern of reckless, antagonistic diplomacy, particularly towards Venezuela—Trinidad’s closest geographic neighbor.

2. Historical Context: Trinidad’s Foreign Relations and Regional Precedents

(06:00–12:35)

• Trinidad and US – Long Ties, Mixed Legacy:
  US military bases from WWII through the 1960s, shaping both infrastructure and social structure (e.g., economy of prostitution referenced in Calypso song Jean and Dinah) (09:00).
• Caricom Formation and Weaknesses:
  The regional bloc meant to empower Caribbean nations, Caricom, is undercut by cost barriers and lack of real integration:

  "Caricom is kind of like if the EU was entirely toothless and didn't really do much of anything." – Andrew Sage (11:00)

• Pattern of US Intervention (16:25):
  Reference to US invasion of Grenada in the 1980s, American disregard for international law, and Trinidad’s wary relationship with superpower politics.

3. Economic and Social Impacts: Oil, Migration, and Broken Neutrality

(15:34–21:12)

• Oil Windfalls and Industrialization:
  Trinidad is less tourism-dependent than its neighbors due to oil booms, but both boons and busts have been at the mercy of international forces.
• Borderland Dynamics with Venezuela:
  Deeply intertwined histories, shared migration, and trade. Recent crisis in Venezuela has led to migration surges toward Trinidad (17:30).
• Increasing Violence & Trafficking:
  Trinidad is a transshipment point for drugs, guns, and trafficked people, fueling domestic violence, while the US flexes military power ostensibly to fight crime.

4. The Guyana Factor and Venezuela’s Assertiveness

(19:19–21:00)

• Venezuela–Guyana Tensions:
  Venezuela’s renewed claim to much of Guyana's territory, sparked by Guyana’s oil discoveries, creates a dangerous flashpoint.
• Regional Militarization:
  Small countries like Trinidad and Guyana are falling into security dilemmas, seeking US partnership but risking entrapment in great-power games.

5. Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s Foreign Policy and Its Dangers

(21:55–24:56)

• Alignment with US, Recklessness toward Venezuela:
  Kamla's government abandoned diplomatic tightropes maintained by predecessors, openly antagonizing Venezuela and snubbing Caricom.
• Domestic Racial/Ethnic Tensions:
  Discussion of Trinidad and Guyana’s substantial Indo-Caribbean (East Indian) populations and their relationship to Caribbean unity efforts.
• Influence Operations and Cambridge Analytica:
  Kamla supposedly benefited from Cambridge Analytica’s first major experiment in electoral manipulation, highlighting foreign meddling at Trinidad’s expense.

6. Escalating Military Risks and Civilian Fears

(28:21–34:01)

• US Bombings in September 2025:
  Multiple strikes on boats, insufficient evidence, summary executions cited.

  "Even if they did have proof that it was a drug boat, summary execution on the high seas is not exactly in line with international law." – Andrew Sage (28:45)

• Potential for Venezuela to Retaliate Against Trinidad:
  Venezuela issues explicit warnings that US military actions from Trinidadian soil could provoke a direct response (30:19).
• Undercurrent of Foreign Meddling and “Manufactured Consent”:
  Large US and Chinese embassies, social media bots faking grassroots support for Kamla, and heightened diplomatic maneuvering.

7. Human Costs: Fishermen, Migrants, and Ordinary People

(35:02–37:41)

• Fishermen at Risk:
  Trinidadian fishermen are scared to go to sea, fearing mistaken-identity attacks (31:52).
• Venezuelan Migrants Demonized and Vulnerable:
  Venezuelans in Trinidad face xenophobia and risk being caught up in geopolitical violence, despite fleeing hardship and not supporting the Maduro regime.

  "These people are victims of a system that has left them with very few opportunities. And the way we're responding is by killing them and by destabilizing a whole part of the world that no one asked for this." – James Stout (37:20)

• “Little Fish” Pay the Price:
  Enforcement targets low-level traffickers or innocent people, while organized crime and political leaders remain largely unaffected.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Prime Minister Kamla's Approach:
  "She said the US could base whatever they want in here... I don't know where she got this we from, but she's saying, oh yeah, they could come and they could, you know, launch stuff from here."
  — Andrew Sage (30:33)

• On US Justification:
  "All the smoke and mirrors about drugs and fighting drugs... it really is that smoke and mirrors, because if it was about that, they would be trying to get information to target the heart of the operation. What the US is doing right now is flexing."
  — Andrew Sage (29:01)

• On Propaganda and Manipulation:
  "There was recently an expose that determined a lot of the pro-UNC, pro Kamla buzz that occurs on social media – it's bot driven. Like you go onto these profiles and they're bots. Just fake names, fake profile pictures, AI posts."
  — Andrew Sage (32:37)

• On Human Impact:
  "Their economy is so bad that they are not able to put fuel in their boats... This is a country which sits on a massive oil reserve, but yet people can't afford to put fuel in their fishing boats."
  — James Stout (37:20)

• Closing Rallying Call:
  "Please do what you can to stand to speak out against this American intervention, to educate yourself on what's going on... probably hunker down and have a crisis bag or emergency bag set up if worse comes to worse and everyone else really just get the knowledge and do what you can in your area to disrupt this machine."
  — Andrew Sage (37:41)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:13] — Inciting incident: US strike, Trinidad PM’s reaction
• [05:00] — History of political leadership and corruption in Trinidad
• [09:00] — US military history and cultural impact on Trinidad
• [11:00] — CARICOM’s founding and ineffectiveness
• [16:25] — US invasion of Grenada and global law hypocrisy
• [17:30] — Migration between Venezuela and Trinidad
• [21:00] — Venezuela-Guyana border tensions, oil discoveries
• [24:19] — Cambridge Analytica’s manipulation of Trinidad’s elections
• [28:21] — Details of US bombings in September 2025
• [30:19] — Venezuela’s warning of retaliation
• [32:37] — Astroturfed political support, social media bots
• [35:02] — The real human cost: migrants, fishermen, and the "little guys"
• [37:41] — Andrew’s closing message and call to action

Tone and Style

Conversational, urgent, and deeply personal, as Andrew Sage weaves history with present-day realities to highlight the precarity facing Trinidad and Tobago. There's an undercurrent of dismay at government recklessness, US imperialism, and the everyday suffering of marginalized populations.

Conclusion

This episode illuminates the domino effect of American military intervention in Venezuela, laying bare how it reverberates in smaller neighboring states like Trinidad and Tobago—entangling them in great-power confrontation, fueling internal strife, and putting civilians at risk. Through grounded historical context, the hosts urge listeners to educate themselves, resist manufactured consent for escalation, and remember the ordinary people most affected by policies made far beyond their control.