00:00As pressure mounts on Prime Minister Kamala Pissar possess her over what some see as her blanket allegiance to the
00:07United States,
00:08the Prime Minister is standing her ground and says if she has the opportunity to do it all again, she
00:15will.
00:16I have no regrets. Not one truly person has been injured or otherwise treated badly by the presence of the
00:26U.S. military here.
00:27In fact, as I've said, all murders came down by 42%, which is 257 less murders. Why can't we be
00:33happy about that?
00:34Now, I know a lot of people are scared, but it's going to drop bombs on us and a war.
00:39No war broke out. No war. Nothing came to hit us from Venezuela.
00:44The Prime Minister further notes that it was the former administration which consented to the revised SOFA agreement,
00:50which allows for military engagement between the two countries.
00:55However, she's dismissing suggestions that TNT is at the mercy of the United States.
01:01We are not at the mercy of anyone except the good Lord. We are not at the mercy of anyone
01:06except the good Lord.
01:07And the other ones I'm at the mercy of are the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
01:11And I will do what I think best, of course, with the advice of the rest of my cabinet and
01:15other stakeholders.
01:17So, we are not at the mercy. We can say no, we can say yes, but we are operating within
01:22the law.
01:23I don't know why it was such a big noise because a few people were here from the U.S.
01:28military in Tobago with the radar.
01:30You know, they are paying $3 million a day for that radar. Not us. They are paying that.
01:36Therefore, they kept some of their military personnel there to ensure that the radar would be safe,
01:41it would be able to continue working, it would not be sabotaged.
01:44The Prime Minister could not state how many U.S. personnel are in Tobago.
01:48However, she notes they are due to leave soon.
01:51I still can't say how many because they are leaving in groups.
01:56And I'm told somewhere in March, once they were in Tobago, sometime in March they are proposing to leave.
02:03The Prime Minister points out that U.S. intelligence led to a recent drug bust.
02:08But she acknowledges that consecutive states of emergency also played a part in reducing crime.
02:14It's both. And then the drugs. Did you realize that the supply dried up as well?
02:21T.T.P.S. told us the supply of all those hard drugs had dried up and the price of
02:27whatever little was still coming in, the prices had gone right up.
02:31I don't know. I don't use any of that. And I don't buy any. But this is what the T
02:34.T.P.S. had advised.
02:36T.T. has recorded a spike in murders since the state of emergency ended, with 29 murders recorded in February
02:43to date, compared to 27 last year.
02:47Very serious concerns. I intend to convene another meeting of the National Security Council.
02:52We'll discuss that matter and see what other strategies we can use.
02:56It is regrettable that the presidents, the presidents, senators and the opposition senators failed to support the Zozo bill.
03:05I met Prime Minister Holleness there and he was very happy with what they've been able to do with the
03:09Zozo bill.
03:10But there are other things we can do. And then when the NSU meets, we will be having that discussion.
03:17The murder toll now stands at 60, the same number recorded for this period last year.
03:24Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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