Akash Sama­roo

Lead Ed­i­tor Pol­i­tics

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar says any feel­ings of pan­ic or un­ease in the pub­lic over the ar­rival of the Amer­i­can war ves­sel USS Grave­ly are the re­sult of po­lit­i­cal machi­na­tions by the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM).

She said the vis­it forms part of on­go­ing se­cu­ri­ty co­op­er­a­tion be­tween Trinidad and To­ba­go and the Unit­ed States, and Per­sad-Bisses­sar is ques­tion­ing why the Op­po­si­tion is at­tempt­ing to sow fear and con­fu­sion to un­der­mine those ef­forts.

In a me­dia re­lease sent by the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter this af­ter­noon, Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar said, “It is most con­cern­ing that the PNM, a par­ty long sus­pect­ed of be­ing fi­nanced by the lo­cal drug mafia, is overt­ly at­tempt­ing to un­der­mine ef­forts to stop drug, arms, and hu­man traf­fick­ing in­to our coun­try. Clear­ly, the PN­Ms’ dai­ly dis­in­for­ma­tion cam­paign is aimed at de­rail­ing the drug and arms in­ter­dic­tion ef­forts so as to pro­tect their drug mafia fi­nanciers.”

The PM said the Gov­ern­ment wel­comes the US Navy and Ma­rine Corps for a “joint mil­i­tary train­ing with the Trinidad and To­ba­go De­fence Force.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar re­it­er­at­ed, “The Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs has stat­ed that the USS Grave­ly (DDG-107) will vis­it Trinidad and To­ba­go from Oc­to­ber 26 to 30, moor­ing in Port-of-Spain, while the 22nd US Ma­rine Ex­pe­di­tionary Unit will con­duct joint train­ing ex­er­cis­es with the Trinidad and To­ba­go De­fence Force (TTDF) dur­ing the same pe­ri­od.”

She said for far too long, this coun­try’s bor­ders have been poor­ly se­cured and have fa­cil­i­tat­ed the traf­fick­ing of hu­mans, drugs, and firearms.

“Tens of thou­sands of il­le­gal mi­grants have en­tered our coun­try, and over 10,000 cit­i­zens have been bru­tal­ly mur­dered in the last two decades.”

Turn­ing to the PNM, the Prime Min­is­ter said, “Un­for­tu­nate­ly, the Op­po­si­tion PNM and their agents are per­sis­tent in cre­at­ing un­nec­es­sary hys­te­ria and con­spir­a­cy the­o­ries in a des­per­ate at­tempt to cre­ate in­sta­bil­i­ty and chaos. It is most con­cern­ing that the PNM, a par­ty long sus­pect­ed of be­ing fi­nanced by the lo­cal drug mafia, is overt­ly at­tempt­ing to un­der­mine ef­forts to stop drug, arms, and hu­man traf­fick­ing in­to our coun­try.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar said what is most dis­heart­en­ing is that PNM-con­trolled con­stituen­cies are the ones af­fect­ed most­ly by drugs and gang vi­o­lence.

“Yet the PNM and their agents choose to put the in­ter­ests of their drug mafia fi­nanciers in front of their own con­stituents. The PNM’s main con­cern is the pro­tec­tion of the il­le­gal prof­its of their drug mafia fi­nanciers. They have no care for the pain and suf­fer­ing of their own con­stituents, far less all oth­er cit­i­zens who have borne the ter­ror of mur­der and grotesque vi­o­lence for years.”

She added, “Clear­ly, the PN­Ms’ dai­ly dis­in­for­ma­tion cam­paign is aimed at de­rail­ing the on­go­ing drug and arms in­ter­dic­tion ef­forts so as to pro­tect their drug mafia fi­nanciers.”

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar sought to re­mind the na­tion about the re­new­al and amend­ment of the Sta­tus of Forces Agree­ment (SO­FA) be­tween Trinidad and To­ba­go and the Unit­ed States in De­cem­ber 2024. The agree­ment, she said, was first signed in 2007 and last re­newed in 2013, and en­hances co­op­er­a­tion be­tween the two coun­tries’ armed forces and sup­ports ini­tia­tives such as the Caribbean Basin Se­cu­ri­ty Ini­tia­tive and the Ac­qui­si­tion and Cross-Ser­vic­ing Agree­ment. The Prime Min­is­ter reaf­firmed her Gov­ern­ment’s com­mit­ment to work­ing with in­ter­na­tion­al part­ners to strength­en na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty and pro­tect the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go.