KAMLA LOVES DELCY — FIRST DEY SAY SHE BAD… FROM PERSONA NON GRATA TO “I LOVE HER”
KAMLA LOVES DELCY
From my sitting perch at my computer, news will find its way to make me a finger-computer-clicking writing warrior.
And today?
Kamla Loves Delcy.
Yes. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, speaking to reporters on September 9, 2026, declared of Venezuela's Delcy Rodríguez:
“I love her. I look forward to meeting her.”
And as though we needed a little family seasoning added to this sudden diplomatic affection, the Prime Minister reminded Trinidad and Tobago that her mother-in-law is Venezuelan, her two grand-nephews are Venezuelan, and that Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela have what she described as very close ties.
Uhmm … let's take a gulp, and pause here.
Because my brain relates immediately to the lyrics of a David Rudder song going back to my feteing years:
“First dey say she bad, then she going mad,
some say she lowqui, I say she jokey.
Jump Up.”
— David Rudder, Jump Up!, Farewell to the Flesh, ℗ 2002 David Rudder
Because somewhere between persona non grata and “I love her,” Trinidad and Tobago appears to have entered another episode of Oscar-performance world theatre.
I couldn't hold back. I had to write.
POLITICAL MEMORY HAS RECEIPTS
I went searching back through Facebook, remembering when persona non grata itself became part of our national conversation — when even a whole parang song was dedicated to the status bestowed upon Kamla after relations between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela deteriorated spectacularly.
This was no minor diplomatic disagreement.
In October 2025, Delcy Rodríguez publicly challenged Kamla Persad-Bissessar over Trinidad and Tobago's energy relationship with Venezuela and the Prime Minister's reliance upon Washington and Marco Rubio.
And this is where the video at the top of this post matters.
For those who do not speak Spanish, the video provides the English context to Rodríguez's October 22, 2025 address at the Venezuela Productiva 2030 Business Expo Forum, which was broadcast live by teleSUR.
Rodríguez warned Trinidad and Tobago that Venezuelan gas was not going to be given away. She challenged the idea that Marco Rubio could somehow provide Venezuela's gas to Trinidad and Tobago independently of Venezuela, and insisted that any Venezuelan gas exported to this country had to be negotiated with and paid for through Venezuela.
Newsday reported Rodríguez accusing Persad-Bissessar of believing Marco Rubio's promises and warning that Trinidad and Tobago's economy was deeply dependent upon gas. Days later, the deterioration went beyond political rhetoric.
Venezuela suspended energy-development cooperation with Trinidad and Tobago, including work involving joint natural-gas projects. The political rupture had become an energy rupture.
WATCH THE VIDEO.
Listen to the tone. Listen to the words.
Then place October 2025 beside September 2026.
At the time, I wrote about what I regarded as the danger of Trinidad and Tobago embracing the militarization of a Caribbean region historically promoted as a Zone of Peace.
My concern was never that Trinidad and Tobago should ignore narcotics trafficking, organized crime or national security. Those are legitimate national concerns. My concern was what happens when national-security rhetoric becomes indistinguishable from an endorsement of lethal force, potentially placing a small Caribbean nation inside the geopolitical confrontation between Washington and Caracas.
WARS OF CONVENIENCE IN A ZONE OF PEACE
Read the earlier Grace Notes commentary ```And while that political chasm was widening, another image became important:
Stuart Young with Delcy Rodríguez.
Whatever one's political allegiance, that image carried diplomatic symbolism. It showed a Trinidad and Tobago political figure personally and visibly engaging Venezuelan leadership at a time when relations between the neighbouring governments had become deeply strained.
That led me on April 24, 2026 to write:
DELCY RODRÍGUEZ — A WOMAN OF SHREWD AND STRATEGIC POWER AND STUART YOUNG ALIGN
Read the April 24, 2026 Grace Notes commentary ```AND NOW HERE WE ARE
September 2026.
“I love her.”
Suddenly we are hearing about a Venezuelan mother-in-law, Venezuelan grand-nephews, family connections, neighbourliness, rapprochement and plans being explored for Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Delcy Rodríguez to meet around the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Persad-Bissessar also expressed confidence that Venezuelan natural gas would eventually come to Trinidad and Tobago and specifically connected that prospect with rapprochement between the neighbouring countries.
Diplomacy requires governments to change course. Mature diplomacy sometimes demands it. Countries cannot afford permanent personal quarrels when geography, energy, trade, migration and national security bind their interests together.
But changing course does not erase the course previously travelled.
That is where my question begins.
What changed?
What became of the rhetoric that helped drive relations between these neighbouring states to such extraordinary hostility?
What changed between the Delcy who publicly challenged Kamla over Marco Rubio and Venezuelan gas in October 2025 and the Delcy whom Kamla now says she loves in September 2026?
And if rapprochement with Venezuela is now in Trinidad and Tobago's national interest, was diplomacy not in Trinidad and Tobago's national interest all along?
That is the political contradiction worth examining.
THE OPTICS OF DIPLOMACY
And I cannot help comparing the optics with Barbados.
Mia Mottley's international profile has been strongly associated with diplomacy, multilateral engagement and cultivating relationships across ideological and geopolitical lines. A meeting between Mottley and Delcy Rodríguez therefore sits within an established diplomatic posture.
Kamla's road to Delcy is different.
That road travelled through Washington and Marco Rubio, through escalating rhetoric and mounting military tension in the Caribbean, through the deterioration of relations with Caracas and the suspension of energy cooperation, and through the extraordinary political symbolism of persona non grata. After travelling that entire political distance, Trinidad and Tobago has somehow arrived at September 2026 and:
“I love her.”
Maybe this is pragmatic diplomacy finally finding its way home.
If so, good.
Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela are neighbours. Geography already made that decision for us. Energy, migration, security, commerce, culture and generations of intertwined families have spent decades reinforcing it.
But political memory matters.
You cannot ask citizens to forget yesterday simply because today's diplomatic requirements have changed.
So, sitting here at my computer watching this newest performance unfold, my brain goes right back to David Rudder:
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“First dey say she bad, then she going mad,
some say she lowqui, I say she jokey.
Jump Up.”
And somewhere between persona non grata and “I love her,” one question is begging to be asked:
```KAMLA, EXACTLY WHEN DID DELCY BECOME FAMILY AGAIN?
ENDNOTES & SOURCES
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1. TTT News — September 9, 2026.
“PM: T&T-Venezuela Meeting Could Take Place At UNGA.” Reports Persad-Bissessar's “I love her” remarks, her Venezuelan mother-in-law and grand-nephews, rapprochement with Venezuela, and the proposed UNGA meeting.
Read TTT News source
2. Trinidad and Tobago Newsday — October 22, 2025.
“Delcy: TT economy would collapse without Venezuela gas.” Reports Rodríguez's Venezuela Productiva 2030 remarks concerning Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuelan gas and Marco Rubio.
Read Newsday source
3. Reuters — October 27, 2025.
“Venezuela suspends energy agreements with Trinidad, including gas projects.” Reuters reported Venezuela's suspension of energy-development cooperation with Trinidad and Tobago amid deteriorating bilateral relations.
Read Reuters source
4. Grace Notes in Context — December 2025.
Wars of Convenience in a Zone of Peace.
Read Grace Notes
5. Grace Notes in Context — April 24, 2026.
Delcy Rodríguez — A Woman of Shrewd and Strategic Power and Stuart Young Align.
Read Grace Notes
EDITORIAL NOTE: The embedded video contains Delcy Rodríguez's original Spanish remarks with an English translation supplied for context. The commentary and interpretation in this essay are those of Grace Notes in Context. Linked news reports are provided so readers can examine the underlying public record independently.
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