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Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has again re­butted re­cent crit­i­cisms from An­tigua and Bar­bu­da Prime Min­is­ter Gas­ton Browne, dis­tanc­ing Trinidad and To­ba­go from Cari­com’s “Zone of Peace” pos­ture and ac­cus­ing the re­gion­al bloc of align­ing with Venezuela’s gov­ern­ment.

Re­spond­ing to ques­tions from Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, even as Browne and for­mer prime min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley ques­tioned her stance, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said Cari­com had “aligned it­self with the Maduro nar­co gov­ern­ment head­ed by a dic­ta­tor,” al­leg­ing that Venezuela’s lead­er­ship has im­pris­oned or killed thou­sands of po­lit­i­cal op­po­nents.

She said Trinidad and To­ba­go “wants no part of that align­ment,” adding that her Gov­ern­ment does not sup­port dic­ta­tor­ship, drug traf­fick­ing, or what she de­scribed as Cari­com’s “Zone of Peace fak­ery.”