Former attorney general questions country’s support for US

PORT OF SPAIN (CMC):

Former attorney general Garvin Nicholas says Trinidad and Tobago government should not readily abandon its closest allies to appease “those who would easily discard us” as he questioned Port-of -Spain’s announcement that it fully supports the decision of the United States to deploy “military assets” into the Caribbean region to destroy what it described as “the terrorist drug cartels”.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, in a statement over the last weekend, also indicated that Port-of-Spain has “not engaged and has no intention of engaging” the 15-member regional integration grouping CARICOM “on this matter”.

The government said that on this matter, each CARICOM member state “can speak for themselves” and that “Trinidad and Tobago has been helplessly drowning in blood and violence for the last 20 years”.

But in statement posted on his Facebook page, Nicholas, who served as attorney general during the final months of the Persad Bissessar-lead 2010-15 People’s Partnership coalition government, said “as a small island state, we must understand that our strength comes from reliable partners with common interests.

“As such, we should not readily abandon our closest allies to appease those who would easily discard us. Instead, we should seek to strengthen our relationship with dependable allies and build on our global network of alliances to ensure we spread our eggs around diverse baskets.”

Zone of peace

The 15-member regional integration movement, CARICOM, has not issued any statement on the matter while Guyana and Barbados governments have reiterated the need for the region to be a zone of peace.

Nicholas said that while he is “absolutely unambiguously in support of eliminating crime and making Trinidad and Tobago the safest country in the world to live … the undisputed reality is that there is no military in history nor will there be any in the future that can bomb drug cartels or gangs out of existence.

“That is not to say we couldn’t benefit from greater vigilance of the waters between the South American coast and ours.

“It is, however, important to remember that the USA couldn’t eliminate the Taliban in Afghanistan by bombing them nor could the IDF after killing over 400,000 innocent Palestinians destroy Hamas, and in order to remove Saddam Hussein from Iraq, over 100,000 civilians were killed.”

Last week, the United States ordered an amphibious squadron to the southern Caribbean as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to address threats from Latin American drug cartels.

A nuclear-powered attack submarine, additional P8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, several destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser are also being allocated to US Southern Command as part of the mission.

Nicholas, who also served as this country’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom, an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to several European countries, said that the Mexican border is the main entry point for illegal drugs entering the USA from South and Central America not the Venezuelan border.

“The Trump regime has, however, been clear that its aim is regime change in Venezuela. And history is clear as to the USA’s aims in oil and gas giants like Venezuela,” Nicholas said.

Prime Minister Persad Bissessar said that she wanted to “make it very clear” that if the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela “launches any attack against the Guyanese people or invades Guyanese territory and a request is made by the American Government for access to Trinidadian territory to defend the people of Guyana, my government will unflinchingly provide them that access,” she said.