US Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago Joseph Mondello has today cleared the air on a recent conversation he had with National Security Minister Stuart Young, regarding the now controversial visit by Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.

In a statement, Ambassador Mondello clarified that he did, in fact, raise a concern about the Rio Treaty during his conversation with Minister Young on May 6th.

It is a complete contradiction to Young’s account of the conversation. Responding to Opposition questions in the Senate last Wednesday, the National Security Minister said “there was no raising of the Rio Treaty”.

The Rio Treaty, signed in 1947, is an agreement between countries in the Western Hemisphere to provide mutual defense if an act of aggression threatens the peace.

See Ambassador Mondello’s statement below: