Click to view full size

With Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar de­clar­ing that nar­co-traf­fick­ers should be “killed vi­o­lent­ly” by the US mil­i­tary, THA Mi­nor­i­ty Leader and fish­er­folk are now ques­tion­ing the deaf­en­ing si­lence of Chief Sec­re­tary Far­ley Au­gus­tine re­gard­ing To­ba­go’s stance.

Au­gus­tine is now be­ing called on to say whether the is­land sup­ports the Prime Min­is­ter’s tough line or if To­ba­go will chart its own course in pro­tect­ing its peo­ple and pre­serv­ing peace, as some Caribbean is­lands have done pub­licly.

The con­cerns fol­lowed the Sep­tem­ber 2 US mis­sile strike in the south­ern Caribbean, which de­stroyed a speed­boat al­leged­ly linked to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang. The US said the ves­sel was car­ry­ing drugs, but no sus­pects were ar­rest­ed, and no ev­i­dence has yet been re­leased pub­licly. Eleven peo­ple were re­port­ed­ly killed.