Source: Trinidad Daily Express
“Today, just like yesterday, was a normal day in Trinidad and Tobago. What happened in Venezuela had nothing to do with Trinidad and Tobago. Citizens just like myself went about our normal business.”
So said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday, in response to concerns about her whereabouts and her failure to address the nation following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by United States armed forces on Saturday morning.
A news conference was held yesterday at the United National Congress (UNC) Chaguanas headquarters, where Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Sean Sobers was among the speakers.
He fielded questions from the media about the capture of Maduro and his wife by US forces. Asked about the whereabouts of the Prime Minister, Sobers said she was engaged with other national commitments at the time.
The Opposition has criticised Persad-Bissessar for failing to address the nation.
Asked by the Express about this yesterday, the Prime Minister insisted there is no crisis in Trinidad and Tobago.
She said that Sunday, like Saturday, was a normal day in Trinidad and Tobago and what happened in Venezuela had nothing to do with T&T. “Citizens just like myself went about our normal business,” she said.
She added that her Government continues its work to ensure the country’s safety, security, and progress.
“Some people may be desperate to manufacture a crisis where there is none, but to each his own,” she said.
Questioned about citizens who may be worried about what occurred in Venezuela, Persad-Bissessar said, “We are not involved, so citizens have no need to be bothered.”
Asked whether she is optimistic about the Dragon gas deal being returned, given the ousting of Maduro, Persad-Bissessar said these matters fall under the purview of the Venezuelan government.
The Prime Minister said, “Dragon gas is the property of the Venezuelan people. Whenever they choose a leader through free and fair democratic elections, that leader will decide on Dragon gas. Trinidad and Tobago does not covet Venezuelan property; we never have and we never will. We will work with what we possess and endeavour to build on it.”
Caribbean politicians will be exposed
Persad-Bissessar also said she does not doubt that Caribbean politicians implicated in the alleged drug trafficking charges against Maduro will eventually be exposed.
According to the charges filed against Maduro by the US Department of Justice, Maduro and his associates abused their positions to turn Venezuela into a haven for drug traffickers and violent criminal organisations, enriching themselves while undermining public institutions.
The indictment also implicates unnamed Caribbean politicians.
Persad-Bissessar said, “I’m not surprised at all. As the story continues to unfold, I do not doubt that many ‘respectable’ and ‘celebrated’ people across all sectors of society will be exposed.”
The Prime Minister’s official X page (formerly Twitter)also posted an excerpt of the indictment, which stated, “so, too, were politicians along the ‘Caribbean route’ corrupted by cocaine traffickers, who would pay them for protection from arrest and to allow favoured traffickers to operate with impunity as they trafficked cocaine from Venezuela north towards the United States. Thus, at every step—relying on the producers in Colombia, transporters and distributors in Venezuela, and recipients and re-distributors on transhipment points north—the traffickers enriched themselves and their corrupt benefactors who protected and aided them.”