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Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is pictured with a few Penal Secondary School during a laptop distribution function on November 27. - Photo by Innis FrancisPRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says US troops are helping to improve radar surveillance in Tobago.
She did so after a laptop distribution function at Penal Secondary School.
Asked by the media for the second time in 24 hours about the presence of US troops in TT, Persad-Bissessar said, "On further enquiries. Yes in Tobago. There are some US Marines there. They are helping us with the airport."
She added, "The plan there is the runway and a radar."
Persad-Bissessar said, "They will help us to improve our surveillance and intelligence we gather...the narco traffickers in our waters and outside our waters."
In August, the US approached Grenada for permission to use the Maurice Bishop International Airport to house military radar that could monitor both commercial and military flights in the southern Caribbean. The US began its military deployment in the southern Caribbean that month with three guided missile destroyers (USS Gravely, Jason Dunham and Sampson).
The US force in the region has since grown to include the nuclear attack submarine USS Newport News, amphibious assault vessels, special forces command vessels, the 22nd US Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford and its strike group. Members of the MEU were in TT last week for joint military exercises with members of the TT Defence Force (TTDF).
Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has said his government is working with an undisclosed deadline from the US but will not be hurried into deciding on such an important issue. US troops invaded Grenada in October 1983 after then prime minister Maurice Bishop was executed in a coup. The MEU was one of the units involved in that invasion which was codenamed Operation Urgent Fury.
When asked if US troops were in TT before a sitting of the House of Representatives on November 27, Persad-Bissessar said, "They are helping us with something to do at the (Arthur NR Robinson International) airport."
She added their presence had something to do with a roadway near the airport."
"It is is not a military force as such. We are not about to launch any campaign against Venezuela."
Referring to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed last December between TT and the US will allows for bilateral military cooperation, Persad-Bissessar repeated, "Trinidad has not been asked to be a base for any war against Venezuela."
In August, Persad-Bissessar said TT was prepared to allow US troops to operate on its territory if Venezuela made any incursion into Guyana and the US made a formal request to government.
The House sits on November 28 to debate a private motion filed by Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles calling on the House condemn "the inflammatory statements of the Prime Minister which have isolated TT and harmed its standing and interest."
In her motion, Beckles also calls on government to reaffirm TT’s commitment to Caricom and to upholding international law.
Persad-Bissessar has publicly supported the US military deployment in the southern Caribbean, outside of Venezuela's territorial waters. She has supported US military strikes against alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean while international concerns have been raised about the strikes being extra judicial killings. Persad-Bissessar has adhered firmly to the Trump administration's position that the deployment is anti-narcotics interdiction exercise.
She has not supported Caricom's long-standing position that the Caribbean be maintained as a zone of peace. Persad-Bissessar has disagreed with other Caricom leaders such as Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves on this point,
In an interview with the Jamaica Observer on November 21, Persad-Bissessar claimed, "It is only a matter of time before Caricom implodes.” She alleged other regional prime ministers were “cavorting around the region and interfering in the affairs and elections of member states”.
The article said the comment was a response to statements made by Gonsalves that UNC operatives are working with the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) to remove his United Labour Party (ULP) from government in St Vincent and the Grenadines' general election on November 27. Persad-Bissessar has rejected Gonsalves' statements.
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