TRINIDAD-PM not “surprised” if Caribbean politicians implicated in illegal drugs trade.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said Sunday that she is “not surprised at all” that Caribbean politicians have been implicated in the illegal drugs trade.

In a statement posted on X, Persad-Bissessar said that she had been asked “about the US indictment against Maduro and whether I was surprised that Caribbean politicians were implicated.

“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,” she said.

She also re-posted on X, a Trinidad Express newspaper story regarding the indictment of Maduro that reads” 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 at transshipment points north-the traffickers enriched themselves and their corrupt benefactors who protected and aided them.

Maduro, who, along with his wife, was captured after the United States military invaded the South American country last Saturday, is set to make his first appearance in a US federal court on Monday.

The Venezuelan president is now awaiting trial in New York City on federal criminal charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy and cocaine importation conspiracy.

The proceeding is scheduled to take place at noon in the federal courthouse in Manhattan before US District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.

Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, was also seized by the US military and faces federal criminal charges, including conspiracy to import cocaine.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Saturday in a post on social media that Maduro and Flores “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”

Prosecutors charged Maduro with federal crimes in 2020, during President Donald Trump’s first term.

In her statement, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, who has been a strong supporter of the US war on drugs in the region, said, “There is no crisis in Trinidad and Tobago.

“Today, just like yesterday, was a normal day in Trinidad and Tobago. What happened in Venezuela has nothing to do with Trinidad and Tobago. Citizens, just like myself, went about our normal business. We are not involved, so citizens do not need to be bothered.”

She said that some people may be “desperate to manufacture a crisis where there is none,” adding, “but to each his own.

“As indicated previously, Trinidad and Tobago looks forward to renewed cooperation and the strengthening of our longstanding friendship with the people of Venezuela in the coming years, and I wish them God’s guidance on their transition from oppression and dictatorship to democracy and prosperity.”

Persad-Bissessar said the local media asked her on Sunday about the Dragon Gas project, “and I indicated that 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,” she added.

Meanwhile, Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Sean Sobers, on Sunday, told a news conference that Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has not gone missing in action since US military action in Venezuela.

He told reporters at the headquarters of the ruling United National Congress (UNC) that any suggestion that the prime minister has failed to address Trinidad and Tobago directly about events leading up to and after Maduro’s capture is not accurate.

“The Prime Minister is on top of things. There is nothing to be worried about. The administration is in control,” he said, adding that soon after Maduro’s detention by the United States, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar met with members of the National Security Council (NSC) and that this engagement continues.

Sobers could not say when or if Persad-Bissessar will address matters surrounding Maduro’s capture, but repeated Persad-Bissessar’s January 3 statements that Trinidad and Tobago was not involved in the US military action that removed Maduro from power.

He dismissed any suggestion that Venezuela views Trinidad and Tobago as being complicit with the US in removing Maduro as president, saying, “I don’t know at all that Venezuela considers Trinidad and Tobago complicit in anything.

“Any authority in Venezuela has never said that since yesterday,” he said, dismissing also previous threats made by Venezuelan government officials against the country before the US action.

He said, despite all the rhetoric, Trinidad and Tobago-Venezuela diplomatic ties remain intact, and the country’s Embassy staff in Caracas are safe.

He said that all Trinidad and Tobago nationals resident in Venezuela or visiting there before January 3 have been accounted for.

“There is no risk at all.”

Sobers said from very early on that Persad-Bissessar has tactfully handled US-Venezuela tensions and their impact on Trinidad and Tobago.

“The Prime Minister has always been extremely diplomatic in her use of language as it pertains to the evolving position in Venezuela and will continue to do so,” he said, defending the decision to hold the news conference at the headquarters of the UNC rather than a government office.

“I don’t think the country is actually concerned with the medium or the location of the press conference,” he said, adding that citizens would be more concerned “with the substance of the press conference.”

He told reporters that because the situation in Venezuela is fluid and dynamic, information must be carefully disseminated before it is shared with the public.

“We don’t want to pronounce on matters that could cause a flurry of conversation that is not necessary at this point.”