00:00Opposition leader Penelope Beckles is denying claims of collusion to meet with the Venezuelan
00:05ambassador.
00:06On the same day, Venezuela's government declared the prime minister persona non grata.
00:11Let me just make it abundantly clear.
00:14I would not and could not have had information on that.
00:19We met at 9 o'clock because we had parliament at 10.
00:22So that was the first meeting for the day.
00:24At some time during the day, that would have transpired.
00:27I did not have that information and maybe if I did have the information, maybe I might
00:32have taken a different position in terms of the meeting on that day.
00:36Beckles maintains it was a routine courtesy call, such as she's had with other ambassadors
00:41recently.
00:42She further notes the invitation came through the Ministry of Foreign and Karakum Affairs.
00:48It is absolutely ridiculous for the prime minister following a letter coming from her minister
00:57to me that the honorable prime minister will then put this in the public domain to make
01:04that kind of what I call reckless statement and a statement that is calculated to cause
01:10mischief by virtue of an ambassador paying a courtesy call.
01:17The opposition leader is announcing claims made by the prime minister that the opposition
01:21has taken the side of a narco government and that the PNM has ties to local drug mafia.
01:28If the prime minister has evidence that the people's national movement is in any way involved
01:34in any sign of drug or drug mafia, then the prime minister knows to take it to the police.
01:41This is a very serious allegation and the prime minister should withdraw that allegation and apologize.
01:48If the United States has made it very clear that, I mean, they are dealing with people who
01:53enter drug trafficking, narco traffickers, and you in the public domain all over the world,
02:00they are seeing these types of headlines as it relates to the opposition.
02:05What really is the intention of the government? Former Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Amy Brown also weighed in,
02:13pointing out that while the opposition leader was accused of being unpatriotic,
02:18mere days later the Minister of Foreign Affairs was rubbing shoulders with the said Venezuelan ambassador.
02:23Just a few days ago, her Minister of Foreign and Karakom Affairs was celebrating that same ambassador as what?
02:31Alvaro, his friend. Alvaro, his good friend. You go onto the website and the media releases of the
02:41Ministry of Foreign and Karakom Affairs, this same ambassador is celebrated because they were running
02:47this dual narrative of one, we want regime change, but at the same time we are good friends with the
02:53Venezuelan people. He's accusing the prime minister of hypocrisy. Particularly, one who may not be
03:01unfamiliar with the finding of a green plant-like substance in South Trinidad, who might be familiar with a video that
03:12everyone in this country has seen of a sitting government minister preparing and smoking drugs with what
03:20seemed to be Venezuelan individuals several years ago back in the government of Trinidad and Tobago.
03:28But we have to sit here and see media reports where the prime minister is somehow trying to associate
03:35those who are calling for peace with a narcotics agenda. That is what we refer to as gaslighting.
03:45Renasa Cutting, TV6 News.
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