Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, is debunking claims that Trinidad and Tobago is under threat as a result of the ongoing tensions between the United States and Venezuela.
Speaking to the media outside the Assembly Legislature on Tuesday, the Prime Minister addressed concerns that fishermen from Trinidad and Tobago are being affected by the military actions of the United States.
“Stay in T&T waters and you will be safe. Trinidad is not a target. Tobago is not a target. So I totally disagree with the narrative out there by some that we are exposing our nationals to danger. As Farley said earlier, there is war and rumours of wars. There is no war. T&T is not a target. The targets are narco-traffickers, human traffickers, those are our targets. And you would have seen some responses I gave to the media showing that there has been the drug decrease in Trinidad, and prices for the narcos are increasing. Why? Because we are hitting them where it hurts.”
The Prime Minister also refuted claims that the Trinidad and Tobago Government has plans to separate itself from CARICOM.
“I have no intention as head of my government of leaving CARICOM, so there is always some mischief there. What I did say, and I will repeat, is we must also look to others. We have to look to others in the international arena so for example, we are looking to the UAE, we are looking to Qatar, looking to Bahrain. We are looking to Europe. We cannot keep closed doors and expect things to change. So CARICOM will remain as a bloc. We will remain as part of the bloc, but we have to open our wings. We have to fly.”