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  • 3 months ago

Justice Frank Seepersad says people must not forget the recent mass migrations out of Venezuela and territorial threat to Guyana when considering what’s taking place with the United States, and T&T’s position on it.

He says we must support the “levelling of the playing field” and understand that difficult decisions sometimes have to be taken to ensure the continuity of vital bi-lateral arrangements.

He made the comments while speaking with TV6 News following an address at the Marabella Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning.

Our cameraman Immanuel Nunez was there and reporter Cindy Raghubar-Teekersingh tells us more.

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Transcript
00:00High Court Judge Justice Frank C. Passat says there's been a lot of opinion on what is taking place in the region with the U.S. military build-up and Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister's open support for one of the country's greatest allies.
00:15There is an unescapable reality that within the last decade we have seen the largest hemispheric migration of citizens from our closest and largest neighbor.
00:30We have also experienced statements made which threaten the territorial integrity of our fellow CARICOM member Guyana and therefore we must not pretend that these things have not happened.
00:48He called on citizens to view the situation from a wider lens and pray that whatever decisions are taken benefit the people of the entire region so it may truly become a zone of peace.
01:01And we must support decisions and actions which may be focused upon the leveling of the playing field and remember that millions of people do not leave their homes because all is well and it suggests that something may be awry and there may be the need for reassessment, realignment and readjustment.
01:25He reminds that sovereignty of a nation is the absolute authority of a state to govern for the welfare of its citizens.
01:33There is a responsibility, he says, to prioritize the interests of its citizenry.
01:39That often requires the effecting of difficult decisions and the formation of strategic alliances, sometimes militarily and sometimes on an economic front,
01:54to ensure that valuable bilateral trade arrangements continue to grow and to flourish.
02:04Justice Sebasat on Sunday also commented on what he called a lot of anger over the legality of attacks within the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
02:14He warns in the absence of required evidence, it is speculative to pass judgment.
02:20We do not have all of the evidence or the positions which have guided the actions which have been undertaken and therefore it is really premature to proffer an opinion that what has occurred amounts to a breach of international law or that there is a violation of fundamental human rights.
02:46Cindy Raghuva, Tika Singh, TV6 News.
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