 In the time period that the story was set, America in fact  maintained two naval bases in Trinidad, one at the western peninsula  called Chagaramas and the other in the east of the country, called  Wallerfield. They were closed in 1962, the year the country gained  independence from Great Britain. There is still a lot of evidence of  their presence to this day i.e., airstrips, the deep water harbor,  and several still