“Careful you don't end up like Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica...bad-mouthing the US and guess what happened...all their visas rescinded now."

That was the warning from Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar as she defended her government’s close security relationship with the United States and urged citizens to be cautious about publicly attacking Washington. 

Speaking at a Christmas event at the Diplomatic Centre in Port of Spain, Persad-Bissessar argued that criticism of the US was hypocritical in a country where hundreds of thousands of nationals hold US visas or US ties. She said she did not want “a single Trinidad or Tobago” to lose US visa access, adding that Trinidad and Tobago needed to understand “where our help comes from” and who could “protect and defend” the country. 

Her comments come against the backdrop of rapidly rising tensions in the southern Caribbean, after Trinidad and Tobago confirmed it has approved US military aircraft transiting through its airports for logistical purposes, including supply replenishment and personnel rotations. 

Persad-Bissessar’s reference to Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica was tied to a new US presidential proclamation taking effect January 1, 2026 that restricts visa issuance for several countries. In the Guardian report, the article also cited social media statements from Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne and Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit saying existing valid US visas would continue to be honoured.

Source: Antigua Observer

...It is apparent that many here are not familiar with the commitments various governments have made with the US regarding T&T.

We need to stop pretending Trinidad and Tobago will get to “think about it” after the first shot is fired.

Our security posture is already half-written by agreements most citizens have never seen, starting with the 1940 “Destroyers for Bases” deal that brought US military facilities into Trinidad during WWII and cemented Washington’s strategic interest in our geography. Add the long shadow of post-war understandings, often described as a right of return running up to 2040, and you get an uncomfortable truth: whether we admit it or not, foreign military access to this country has been on the books, in some form, for generations.

That history matters today because Venezuela is again talking like a bully with a map. And while Guyana sits in the headlines, Trinidad and Tobago is not magically immune. We are close, energy-linked, and militarily outmatched.

So here’s the real scandal: not that we may need help in a crisis, but that we have allowed modern leaders to sign defence arrangements in the dark. Rowley's government's “indefinite” SOFA with the United States was signed without proper parliamentary debate and public explanation; that is not routine diplomacy. That is democratic negligence. National security cannot be managed like a backroom MOU and then “clarified” after the US Embassy publishes it.

If Venezuela ever escalates from threats to action, any prime minister will face the same brutal menu: call the US and accept the access and conditions that come with support, or stand alone and gamble with the country’s safety. The only thing we control is whether that decision is guided by a transparent national policy or by panic.

Parliament must convene a full, national security review now, not after a crisis. Publish the SOFA and any related defence cooperation instruments in plain language, disclose expiry and termination clauses, debate the scope of foreign troop access, and establish bipartisan oversight so no prime minister can sign “indefinite” commitments in the shadows again.

If our sovereignty is real, it should survive daylight.

Sarge

@Slipfeeler

This dangerous woman needs to resign

@Halliwell

Regardless of the politics and which side you support, the real question is why Kamla speaking on behalf of US?

@Slipfeeler

It is obvious you didn't assimilate what I wrote above and the choices that were left to her, or you wouldn't phrase such a question.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s periodic claims in the region aren’t a talking point for partisan quarrels. That’s a sovereignty issue requiring seriousness, not soundbites. It claims Trinidad and part of Guyana. They have the military to overwhelm both nations at will. Both nations are collaborating with the US to prevent such, plus T&T has signed obligations that allow US personnel in T&T. One was signed by the British in 1940, and an indefinite one was signed by the Rowley Government a few years ago.

What choice does the present government have?

You should look at the immigration problems of Venezuelans in T&T.An estimate shows 40,000 left for T&T. Why?

Is the above so difficult to comprehend?

...........

The dangerous woman was voted into power by a majority in the last election; she is showing more balls than Rowley ever had. With his prostate problems, I see why he chose Lal Beharry Young and got their rasses kicked.😎

@sgtdjones

For someone wth no horse in the political race, you surely cannot have a political discourse without some bile about Rowley.

Is it some contract his admin didn't give you or is it the actual race thing, or is it service rendered on behalf of Kamla's minions in exchange for favors?

No crime and murders in TnT recently ent? You had a daily commentary running before April. Quite impressive for a busy exec...

Oh wait, in them days no contract from de Guavament.. but now yuh busy and yuh mouth full, no time for daily crime posts!!! 😎

She sounds like she should be the US ambassador to Trinidad & Tobago.

350,000+ have visas to the US & travel multiple times! Now, anti Uncle Sam socishitists...put it in allyuh pipe & smoke it!!! Now, run off as the Jewmaycans would say or I could simply say - gwallang!

Please, allyuh rum guh to Facebook & watch Anil Roberts' Caricom gone mad!!! Mih seh RUN!!!

I’m think we see the leaders that prioritise their countries, and those that are likely more concerned with their interests of the USA, India, etc.

Weak leaders hold their hands up and complain how small they are and how helpless they are and that they must cooperate with whatever whim the big bullies pushing. They say inane stuff like when X sneezes, we ketch cold.

Trinidad, when will be the time to rise out of this small mindedness? Kamla and Rowley and Patrick and Bas were old guard. Bring on the new.

@Halliwell

I’m think we see the leaders that prioritise their countries, and those that are likely more concerned with their interests of the USA, India, etc.

Weak leaders hold their hands up and complain how small they are and how helpless they are and that they must cooperate with whatever whim the big bullies pushing. They say inane stuff like when X sneezes, we ketch cold.

Oh geez, you are so Brit-correct...you should be knighted.

British lawmakers not leaping to condemn the US president’s cozy little nod to far-right nationalists isn’t “perplexing” so much as grimly predictable. Westminster has perfected a special kind of moral aerobics: lots of stretching, no actual movement. When something genuinely ugly happens abroad, the instinct isn’t to call it ugly; it’s to ask whether calling it ugly might upset the seating plan at the next bilateral photo-op.

As for Donald Trump, so often dressed up by Brit commentators as “charismatic” or “shrewd,” it’s hard to know what performance they’re watching. The man isn’t a political savant; he’s a walking stress test for democratic institutions, daring them to prove they’re sturdier than his ego. And the idea that he’d be a “perfect fit” for Keir Starmer is the sort of comparison you make only if you think politics is just vibes, branding, and who can grin through a handshake without looking like they need a disinfectant wipe.

Then come the “concerns,” delivered in the tone usually reserved for asking a neighbour to maybe keep it down after midnight. A few MPs managed to cough out something about “different perspectives,” as if endorsing extremists is merely a matter of taste, like preferring smooth peanut butter over crunchy. One can almost picture them lowering their voices, glancing around nervously, half-convinced the US embassy has fitted Westminster with listening devices and a direct line to Mar-a-Lago.

And that’s the most embarrassing part: not the lack of outrage, but the studied, cowardly ambiguity. Everything gets translated into harmless fog, “nuance,” “context,” and “dialogue,” until there’s nothing left to object to. It’s not diplomacy; it’s self-preservation dressed up as prudence. The message is clear: if you endorse far-right nationalists loudly enough from a big enough office, British politicians will respond the way they always do, by clearing their throats and hoping the moment passes before anyone asks what they actually believe.

You fit in perfectly with the above, including your Yorkshire pudding...😎

Sarge

@sgtdjones

I dun.

@Slipfeeler

These are sick people with no self respect t.

sadly nuff Caribbean peeps value visas over self respect or struggle.

i am so glad I’m a senior.

..............

You have self-respect?

left Guyana and moved to Jamaica.

But lo and behold, you are a critic of others with visas. ????

Not only are you a senior, but you are a dunce...😡