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Hours after news broke that a US Navy warship (USS Gravely) would dock in Port of Spain next week, former Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has added his name to a rare joint statement by former Caribbean leaders against US militarization in the region, adding that he is ashamed of the country’s recent actions amid tensions in the region.

In signing the statement, the former PM aligned himself with a call to preserve the region as a “zone of peace” amid the US’ military campaign in the Caribbean Sea that has left at least 40 dead. It is a notion which Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar claimed was a false ideal when speaking at the UN General Assembly last month.

“‎It is with a deep sense of loss and sadness that I reflect on the leadership provided by Trinidad and Tobago, at an earlier time, within all the fundamental principles outlined and embodied in this statement,” Rowley wrote in a statement posted to his social media this morning.