Rowley to host radar conversation in Tobago

Former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley. - File photo by Angelo Marcelle

FORMER prime minister Dr Keith Rowley will discuss the US military radar that was installed last month at the Arthur NR Robinson International Airport with Tobagonians at Mason Hall, Tobago on December 7.

In a post on his Facebook page on December 5, Rowley said, "Tobago, the conversation continues. In a time of uncertainty, our island deserves clarity."

The post went on to indicate that Rowley will hold "a conversation with Tobagonians" about the radar at the Mason Hall Community Centre on December 7 from 6.30 pm.

He said he "will address the hard questions on the military radar, the SOFA (Status of Forces) agreement, and the real implications of these developments for our island’s safety and future."

The SOFA was signed with the US in December 2024 under the former PNM administration while Rowley was still prime minister.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar first disclosed the establishment of the radar in Tobago by US Marines, when she was questioned by the media after a laptop distribution ceremony in Penal on November 27.

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 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.

Persad-Bissessar has publicly supported the US military deployment in the Southern Caribbean, outside of Venezuela's territorial waters, the Trump administration's position the deployment is an anti-narcotic exercise and US military strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean which several countries have described as extrajudicial killings.

Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has said he had no knowledge about the radar being established at the airport and he should be a member of the National Security Council (NSC) which is chaired by Persad-Bissessar.

Former national security minister Gary Griffith has said Augustine cannot be a member of the NSC because he is not a cabinet minister. Tobago People's Party (TPP) Tobago East MP David Thomas supported Persad-Bissessar's statement that the radar is to deal with narco trafficking.

There is no political coalition between the UNC and TPP although the latter's MPs, Joel Sampson (Tobago West) and Thomas sit on the same side of the parliament chamber next to government MPs. Parties in Parliament which are not the government always sit on the benches directly opposite to the government.