00:00More than 24 hours after the United States dropped bombs on Venezuela, Minister of Foreign and Caracom Affairs Sean Sobers is seeking to assure the people of TNT that they have nothing to fear.
00:13I definitely do not believe that anybody felt unsafe or there was any calamity at all. As a matter of fact, I think the contrary of that particular position holds true. You are here, you are safe. Yesterday I suspect you went about your business as per normal.
00:30And that's what we want the country to continue to do. There's nothing to be worried about. The administration is in control. The Prime Minister is on top of things.
00:37And we are consistently reviewing certain established procedures and protocols as they're being ruled out.
00:43Venezuela had previously warned TNT that it would retaliate against us if the U.S. were to attack its country.
00:51However, Minister Sobers says as far as he's aware, relations between TNT and Venezuela are good.
00:58Number one, I don't know at all, respectfully, that Venezuela considers Trinidad and Tobago complicit in anything.
01:05That has never been said by any authority in Venezuela since yesterday, the 3rd of January, when the kinetic activity took place.
01:12Number two, Trinidad and Tobago made its position quite clear, very, very pelucid, that we did not participate in any of the kinetic activities that took place in Venezuela or in Caracas yesterday.
01:22Number three, there has been a lot of rhetoric being passed to and through over the last couple of months.
01:29But diplomatic relations remain intact. Our embassy is open, operating as per normal, as I mentioned.
01:36Everybody is safe and secure. The embassy is here, open, operating as per normal, safe and secure.
01:41So there's no risk at all or combativeness at all between Trinidad and Tobago and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
01:50Heads of government in the wider region, including the presidents of the United States, Cuba and Colombia, as well as the prime minister, Barbados,
01:59have addressed their respective nations with respect to the developing situation in Venezuela.
02:04However, just seven miles away, Trinidad and Tobago is still awaiting an address from the National Security Council and its head.
02:13When will the prime minister and the National Security Council be reporting to the people of Trinidad and Tobago?
02:18I know discussions are ongoing. When can we expect that live in-person report update?
02:25I have just updated you in terms of what has been going on with the prime minister and the National Security Council.
02:30Not every single thing, obviously, because of the sensitivity of it that occurs at the National Security Council level will be given to the public,
02:39because then you'll be alerting criminals to what we plan to do to stop crime within the country.
02:44As the situation evolves, as information comes to us, we will present ourselves and disseminate the information in a responsible manner.
02:51The prime minister, since in and around, I would say, maybe about 2.20 yesterday morning,
02:59has been engaged with several different tiers of the apparatus of the National Security Council.
03:05That engagement is a continuous engagement and it continues even to today, and I suspect it will be ongoing for quite some time.
03:12May hours after the strike in Venezuela, all local police moved to cordon off streets in the vicinity of the TTPS admin building and parliament building in Port of Spain.
03:23A precautionary measure, it says, will remain in effect until further notice.
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