00:00According to international relations expert Dr. Keron Niles, the initiative is designed to confront the narcotics trade,
00:09but he points out that several of the major drug-producing and trafficking countries are not part of the arrangement.
00:16This is meant to be about drugs and combating drugs, but it should be noted as well that the largest,
00:25some of the largest economies in this hemisphere and some of those that are most involved, the cartels,
00:31I shouldn't say most involved, that the cartels have a historic relationship with,
00:39in terms of being situated in those countries, countries like Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Peru,
00:45none of those countries are in this initiative.
00:49Naz is also urging the country's leadership to examine the broader implications of closer security alignment.
00:56Referencing past incidents in which vessels suspected of carrying narcotics were bombed by the United States,
01:03resulting in loss of life.
01:05I think people need to understand what this means.
01:08150 people and more are now dead, right?
01:13They're not missing, they're not injured, they're dead, they're gone.
01:17And they're gone without due process, without a chance to play their name,
01:23without a chance to even say anything about what they would have done.
01:28To be clear, they were killed for a crime that does not carry that penalty in our country.
01:36He adds that while cooperation in the fight against crime is important,
01:40Trinidad and Tobago must avoid placing all of its focus in one direction
01:46and should carefully weigh the longer-term diplomatic and security consequences.
01:52One, you're putting your eggs in this one basket, but are you developing the systems?
01:58Are we putting these things in place to ensure that if things go left or an election changes our relationship
02:06with the places where they break down?
02:08Because, again, let's to be clear, our issue is not with the U.S.
02:11Our issue is with the people that we elected and the decisions that they make
02:14and really thinking through how they really thought through the medium-term implications,
02:21the relative implications.
02:22Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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