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For­mer na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty min­is­ter Stu­art Young says Trinidad and To­ba­go must not drift away from long-stand­ing for­eign pol­i­cy prin­ci­ples that keep the re­gion free from mil­i­tary con­flict, warn­ing that “war has no place in the Caribbean.”

Speak­ing dur­ing the de­bate on a mo­tion brought by the Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les yes­ter­day, Young said the coun­try’s for­eign pol­i­cy must re­main an­chored in the Unit­ed Na­tions Char­ter and Cari­com’s com­mit­ments to peace, sov­er­eign­ty and non-in­ter­ven­tion.

Young said the re­gion must pro­tect the long-held con­cept of the Caribbean as a “zone of peace.” He told Par­lia­ment, “A zone of peace in this re­gion means no war. It means keep the mil­i­tary build-ups, the po­ten­tial of war, out. We don’t want war here. We are not equipped for war here, and we should re­main that way.”