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‘Fight fire with fire!’ PM reaffirms support for US; rejects Caricom leaders talk that region is zone of peace
Despite calls from regional leaders for peace in the region, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday unapologetically and vehemently declared that this country, along with the United States, will fight “fire with fire” to push back against drugs and gang warfare in the Caribbean region.
On a day packed with addresses from Caricom leaders at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the central theme from them was for the US to pull back from its proximity to Venezuelan waters and to remember that the Caribbean is a zone of peace.However, when it was Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar’s turn at the lectern, she said she had come with a “hard truth.”“The notion that the Caribbean is a zone of peace has become a false ideal. The reality is, stop, no such peace exists today. For too many in our region, peace is not daily life, but an elusive promise, glimpsed and never grasped. In its absence, our citizens pay a terrible toll.”
The PM explained to the General Assembly that in 2024, with only a population of 1.4 million people, T&T recorded 623 murders.“And many of them are gang related. So the reality is, being a zone of peace is still an elusive dream that we’re pursuing.”The PM acknowledged that other countries may disagree with her position but they do not suffer the same way T&T does.
“While there have been objections to the US military action against drug cartels in the southern Caribbean, some objections from some countries, I state today, Trinidad and Tobago reminds the international community that unless forceful and aggressive actions are taken, these evil drug cartels will continue their societal destruction because they believe affected nations will always unreservedly subscribe to morals and ethics and human rights and values which they themselves blatantly flout.”
Despite calls from regional leaders for peace in the region, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday unapologetically and vehemently declared that this country, along with the United States, will fight “fire with fire” to push back against drugs and gang warfare in the Caribbean region.
On a day packed with addresses from Caricom leaders at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the central theme from them was for the US to pull back from its proximity to Venezuelan waters and to remember that the Caribbean is a zone of peace.However, when it was Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar’s turn at the lectern, she said she had come with a “hard truth.”“The notion that the Caribbean is a zone of peace has become a false ideal. The reality is, stop, no such peace exists today. For too many in our region, peace is not daily life, but an elusive promise, glimpsed and never grasped. In its absence, our citizens pay a terrible toll.”
The PM explained to the General Assembly that in 2024, with only a population of 1.4 million people, T&T recorded 623 murders.“And many of them are gang related. So the reality is, being a zone of peace is still an elusive dream that we’re pursuing.”The PM acknowledged that other countries may disagree with her position but they do not suffer the same way T&T does.
“While there have been objections to the US military action against drug cartels in the southern Caribbean, some objections from some countries, I state today, Trinidad and Tobago reminds the international community that unless forceful and aggressive actions are taken, these evil drug cartels will continue their societal destruction because they believe affected nations will always unreservedly subscribe to morals and ethics and human rights and values which they themselves blatantly flout.”
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