US military chief in T&T today to meet Prime Minister

Moments after the Donald Trump administration added Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his government to the US State Department’s list of the world’s most dangerous terrorist organisations, news emerged that the United States’ highest-ranking military officer will meet with the Prime Minister today.

In a media release yesterday afternoon, the United States Embassy said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, will visit Trinidad and Tobago today to meet Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.“People have underplayed that. But the fact that the Joint Chief of Staff is coming to meet the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, a head of government, tells you a lot of things. That puts into perspective all of what I was saying about the geopolitics and the geoeconomics, and the positioning of the country. All of those things are very important. I mean, yes, but that is government to government, that is not Republican to UNC.”

The Office of the Prime Minister put out a brief statement yesterday, saying, “The meeting is being held at the request of the United States and will focus on the two nations’ strong bilateral relationship, strengthening regional stability and the vital importance to both countries of countering the illicit traffic in drugs and transnational criminal organisations.”