Criminologist Daurius Figueira says Trinidad and Tobago is standing at perilous crossroads as it relates to the U S. / Venezuela matter.
He says - at a time when the nation is already battling a crisis of falling gas production, shrinking export revenues, and new U.S. tariffs that threaten both large industries and small businesses, the government has chosen to embrace an extreme right-wing posture. He believes this is a wrong move.
00:01Criminologist Darius Figuera tells The Morning Edition the hardline stance taken by Prime Minister Kamala Posad-Busesa has dragged the country into dangerous political minefields.
00:13He believes the U.S. is not really targeting drug cartels, but has its own agenda.
00:18Even before the Americans sent the naval and military task force to the Southern Caribbean, the trafficking routes had already shifted.
00:31So the trafficking routes to Europe are totally out of the reach of where that American military task force is positioned.
00:41So that means it is not a gambit to destroy drug trafficking.
00:48It has an ulterior geopolitical motive.
00:53He argues that if the United States was serious about combating drug trafficking, it would not anchor its forces in the Southern Caribbean.
01:02According to Figuera, the real drug corridors lie elsewhere, across the main transit routes linking the Americas, Africa and Europe.
01:11He further weighs in on the impact of the drug trade on crime locally.
01:15Trinidad and Tobago was never a primary trafficking point in the Caribbean.
01:20We are too far south.
01:22If the national security apparatus of this country was fit for purpose since the 1970s, Trinidad and Tobago would not have had the violence that we have had, especially from 2017 to 2024.
01:40So it is not because of drug trafficking into Trinidad and Tobago, we have a violent society.
01:48It is because the politicians have repeatedly failed.
01:53Caribbean Airlines has confirmed the temporary suspension of flights between Piaco International Airport and Caracas for the entire month of September.
02:02Figuera warns that this can only add fuel to the fire.
02:07But what I see this this this this this this this downward spiral.
02:13Is that it is totally bad for us.
02:15And what I am totally afraid of.
02:18Is that this unitized block called Manatee Loran.
02:23is now jumping up in steel band juve mourning because that is a unitized block under international
02:32law. And if Venezuela cannot exploit its share of the block, Venezuela has the right under
02:40international law to prohibit Trinidad from exploiting its side. Figaro says given the
02:47country's current situation, leaders must abandon political grandstanding and approach
02:53governance pragmatically. Adding that the nation cannot afford empty rhetoric, but must act
02:59decisively and negotiate where necessary to safeguard our future. Nikul M. Romani, TV6 News.
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