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Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has de­fend­ed her re­cent par­tic­i­pa­tion at the Unit­ed Na­tions Gen­er­al As­sem­bly (UN­GA), amid ques­tions over her role and the pur­pose of her trip.

Speak­ing at a press con­fer­ence yes­ter­day at her Charles Street, Port-of-Spain of­fice, Beck­les said she has been at­tend­ing UN meet­ings for more than three decades in var­i­ous pro­fes­sion­al ca­pac­i­ties, in­clud­ing as a for­mer am­bas­sador, and was in­vit­ed this year to speak and mod­er­ate at sev­er­al side events.

“I have served as an am­bas­sador, and I have been go­ing to the UN for over three decades. If you are there and your Prime Min­is­ter is speak­ing, yes, the op­tion is you may be some­where else. But I think the op­por­tu­ni­ty for me, as the Op­po­si­tion Leader, to be there at that time—I was there per­son­al­ly, I heard it for my­self, and I didn’t have to read it any­where,” she said.