Trinidad PM proud of US partnership

(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said yesterday Trinidad and Tobago stood proud and committed to the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition led by United States President Donald Trump.

Trump, with Persad-Bissessar at his side, signed a proclamation committing to the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition—focused on using force to deal with criminal cartels—at the Shield of the Americas Summit at the Trump National Doral golf course resort in Miami on Saturday.

Said Trump: “The heart of our agreement is a commitment to using lethal military force to destroy the sinister cartels and terrorist networks once and for all. We’ll get rid of them.”

Persad-Bissessar has been a strong supporter of Trump’s military action against narco-trafficking in the region, and when the US armada moved into the region, she declared that narco-traffickers should be killed violently.

Persad-Bissessar was the only woman leader among the invited heads at the Miami summit, which included about a dozen leaders from South and Central America.

In a post on X yesterday, photographs from the event were shared as Persad-Bissessar extended her thanks to Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth.

“This marks a historic step forward as we unite across the hemisphere to confront the drug cartels head-on and restore safety to our region.

For decades, Trinidad and Tobago has battled a crime crisis fuelled by narco-trafficking and the influx of illegal arms and ammunition,” said Persad-Bissessar.

She continued, “We welcome this strengthened alliance with the United States and our Latin American partners as we work together to make the Americas safer for all our people.”

Persad-Bissessar thanked Rubio for his cooperation and Hegseth for “leading the charge in advancing this critical security partnership”.

 

Targeting cartels

at the source

 

On March 5, before the summit, Defence Minister Wayne Sturge attended the inaugural Americas Counter-Cartel Conference in Doral, Florida, signing a joint security declaration with 17 nations from the Caribbean, Central America and South America.

Sturge appealed to Hegseth to provide this country with assets to fight criminals.

Asked yesterday if Trinidad and Tobago would benefit from this coalition, he responded: “I believe it can, as we intend to target the cartels at their source as we aim to stem the inflow of drugs and guns. Using shared intel we also intend to dismantle not just local gangs but those who masquerade as legitimate businessmen whilst using their businesses as a facade for financing the inflow of drugs and guns. We have reached the crossroads and I do believe strongly that we will see results.”

 

Energy security

 

In a telephone interview with the Express yesterday, Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Sean Sobers said he and the Prime Minister held talks with Rubio on Saturday and with several US high-level officials, including Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.

“We discussed a myriad of issues. Obviously, at the top of the list would have been energy security,” he said.

He said there were several meetings with members of the Latin American and Caribbean communities.

These included meetings with the presidents of Paraguay, Argentina, Panama, Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.

Sobers said bilateral talks were held with the President of Paraguay about Trinidad and Tobago’s application for associate membership of Mercosur.

“We had with Argentina, and with Chile also touched on that as well,” he said.

Sobers said meetings were geared towards discussing matters related to national security, bilateral and diplomatic matters, and several fronts for cooperation.

“I think Trinidad and Tobago will see fruits coming to bear quite soon because of this unfiltered and open and transparent approach by the Prime Minister,” he said.

He also noted that the United States has legally recognised Venezuela’s government and Trinidad and Tobago would also have more to share about energy cooperation in the coming days.

Sobers and Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath were with the Prime Minister engaging in talks on the international arena.

Said Sobers, “I felt extremely humbled, but more so, proud. What I saw was a culmination of promises made and promises kept.”

He said Persad-Bissessar had said that Trinidad and Tobago remains committed to Caricom but must expand friendships.

“And that’s what she did. That talk turned into action in terms of the several different engagements with all of these Latin American countries,” he said.

Sobers added, “The Prime Minister concretised our relationship that was shaky before when we came into office.”