Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, expressed strong support for a recent United States military operation that targeted a boat suspected of carrying drugs in the southern Caribbean. Just after the ship departed Venezuela’s waters, the US military carried out a targeted strike. This attack, which was the 1st attack, allegedly killed 11 IDF personnel on board. In defense of her operation, Persad-Bissessar described it as not just a move against drug trafficking, but the violence that surrounded it.
“In her opening remarks, Persad-Bissessar noted the toll that drug cartels have wrought on her homeland. ‘Our country has been ravaged by bloody violence and addiction because of the greed of the cartels,’ she stated. She condemned drug traffickers, insisting that the US military should act forcefully against them.”
“The pain and suffering the cartels have inflicted on our nation is immense. I have no sympathy for traffickers; the US military should kill them all violently,” – Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
The Colombian Prime Minister indeed acknowledged that generally speaking, Colombia just arrests people who commit drug-related crimes. As he highlighted, these people aren’t typically the big-time traffickers. She stressed that most people carrying drugs are “very poor young people” from the area. This serves to underscore the intricacies of drug trafficking networks.
Persad-Bissessar’s support for the US operation is indicative of a larger fear with drug-related violence in Trinidad and Tobago. She remarked, “The slaughter of our people is fueled by evil cartel traffickers.” Her comments mirror her administration’s strong and welcome commitment to fighting the deep and corrupting influence of drug cartels operating out of Mexico in the Caribbean.
Further, she sounded an optimistic note at several points about the US naval deployments directly changing the dynamics that got us here. “I, along with most of the country, am happy that the US naval deployment is having success in their mission,” she stated.
Even though Persad-Bissessar welcomed the US move, some critics expressed skepticism about the legality and morality of such military actions. Gustavo Petro, the progressive Colombian political leader and former mayor of Bogotá, insisted that the bombing of the boat violated international norms prohibiting the use of force. He provocatively called the attack on her murder.
