The Prime Minister says this country cannot be "judge and jury" when it comes to the United States' lethal miltiary strikes on vessels the U.S. classified as narco trafficking drug boats.
Those strikes include the U.S double strike that killed survivors on one of the vessels which has now become a source of controversy in the U.S.
00:00I don't see how it applies to me or what it has to do with me or Trinidad and Tobago.
00:05The United States is a sovereign nation and they are free to exercise their sovereignty in manners that they seem or deem fit.
00:13I cannot be judge and jury here to determine whether they are right or whether they are wrong.
00:18Those are not within our jurisdiction or my remit.
00:21Prime Minister Kamala Pesabrissa's response to questions from the media outside of the Red House in Port of Spain about the U.S. military lethal strike on September 2nd involving a second strike on a boat that killed survivors of the first strike.
00:35The so-called double-tap strike has now become a source of controversy in the U.S. but has been defended by the U.S. government.
00:42It's U.S. action. It is not from Trinidad and Tobago.
00:45If it's happening in that manner and I don't have that information, contrary to the view, they don't tell me when they're going to strike a ship or a boat.
00:53We are not advised. We are not given that information.
00:55They're free to hold that information. Those are security issues for them.
00:59So, yes, I say it must be done within the law.
01:02And so far, I have no evidence that Trinidad and Tobago is acting unlawfully.
01:07While there has been strong criticism within and outside of the U.S. about the recent U.S. military airstrikes in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean,
01:16the U.S. government says the boats being targeted were being used by narco-traffickers and contained illegal drugs destined for the U.S.
01:25I would say this, however, that if there is a boat or a ship out in international waters and it doesn't carry a flag,
01:34it doesn't carry a flag, so you don't know does it belong to TNT, does it belong to U.S. to whom, does it belong to,
01:41then my advice is that within the law, they are treated like pirates and therefore will not have the protection
01:48that others carrying a flag, identifying who they are and where they're going.
01:53So they're basically pirates at sea.
01:55The Prime Minister has expressed her government's support for the new U.S. war on drugs in the region.
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