PNM slams Sobers over US naval deployment comments

DAREECE POLO

Senior Reporter

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The People’s National Movement (PNM) has accused Foreign Affairs Minister Sean Sobers of “gross insobriety” over his comments on the impending arrival of US naval assets in the southern Caribbean and his response to remarks by US Vice President JD Vance, who compared crime in Washington DC to T&T.

The Opposition said Sobers’ statements revealed the Government’s unpreparedness to handle sensitive security and diplomatic issues, downplaying both the implications of the US deployment and concerns raised by the Vice President.

PNM chairman Marvin Gonzales said the party will issue a formal response today, but criticised Sobers’ handling of the matter.

“Having listened to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, I looked up to the heavens and asked God to deliver us from this level of incompetence and crassness. His utterance is the latest evidence that the UNC was never prepared for governance and cannot deal with the hard issues that daily confront this nation,” Gonzales said.

He described Sobers’ position as “gross insobriety—not sober!” and accused the Government of taking a “voops and vaps” approach to foreign policy.

After days of silence, Sobers told Guardian Media on Friday that the United States is a sovereign nation and where it chooses to deploy ships is not a matter for T&T. He dismissed speculation that this country could serve as a base for US troops, insisting T&T will not be drawn into Washington’s dispute with Venezuela.

On Vance’s comments about crime, Sobers suggested the Vice President was referring to criminality that flourished under the former PNM administration.

T&T’s Ambassador to Caricom, Ralph Maraj, took a sharper line, questioning whether the Caribbean truly remains a “zone of peace” given mounting threats to stability.

“Is it so peaceful now when one country wants to invade and claim more than two-thirds of its neighbour’s territory, which international law recognises as rightfully belonging to that neighbour?” he asked, citing Venezuela’s ongoing border dispute with Guyana.

Maraj also pointed to Venezuela’s political unrest, mass migration, election irregularities, and suppression of freedoms as destabilising factors. He further highlighted rampant drug, arms and human trafficking across the region, quoting Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali, who warned that criminal cartels now have the capacity to undermine democracy and overwhelm state institutions.

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley echoed these concerns at the Big Talk Conversation, Nuff Action forum during Carifesta, stressing that the Caribbean must remain a “zone of peace” despite rising geopolitical tensions.

“We hope that the gathering of ships in the southern Caribbean will not mean this is a foreteller of conflict,” she said.

Former Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley also weighed in, warning that the Government’s commitment to defending the region’s peace is being tested by the US naval build-up. He accused the UNC of previously undermining diplomacy by supporting foreign efforts to install Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

His successor, former Prime Minister Stuart Young, described the situation as concerning, noting T&T’s long-standing commitment to the principles of non-intervention and non-interference.

Guyana last week welcomed foreign assistance to combat organised crime and narco-terrorism, including networks such as Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles.

Venezuela, however—backed by China and the regional bloc ALBA—condemned US naval action in the southern Caribbean.