Ra­mona Ram­di­al

The 49th Cari­com Heads of Gov­ern­ment con­fer­ence held from Ju­ly 6-8 in Ja­maica was not at­tend­ed by Prime Min­is­ter Per­sad-Bisses­sar. It would have been her first op­por­tu­ni­ty to re­assert her brand of Tri­ni woman pow­er in the re­gion since re­gain­ing the po­si­tion she last held in 2015.

Min­is­ter of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs, Sean Sobers and Home­land Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Roger Alexan­der sub­sti­tut­ed for her. Min­is­ter Sobers ex­plained that the PM’s ab­sence was due to “press­ing na­tion­al mat­ters” but pro­vid­ed no de­tails. For­mer min­is­ter of For­eign Af­fairs, Op­po­si­tion Sen­a­tor Amery Browne, sug­gest­ed that Trinidad and To­ba­go lost the op­por­tu­ni­ty to par­tic­i­pate in a free move­ment arrange­ment de­vised by Bar­ba­dos, Be­lize, Do­mini­ca, and St Vin­cent & the Grenadines.