00:00At least 85 murders have been recorded for the year thus far, 24 committed in the month of March alone.
00:08This despite the latest state of emergency, which was effected on March 3rd and subsequently extended for three months.
00:17In opposition leader Penelope Beckel's opinion, the country is back at square one.
00:22Here it is again. You come just a couple weeks ago and you say to the population that if you
00:27don't get this extension,
00:28you know, crime will continue and you guarantee the population that it was absolutely necessary and that is not the
00:34case.
00:34She adds, stand your ground, the legislation is yet to yield results.
00:39The promise was made that it would be much easier to have your FUL and that has not been the
00:44case.
00:45I mean, I've had people come into me, even from my own constituency, some people who had, you know, provisional
00:50permits and now they are cancelled.
00:53Meantime, kidnappings have been trending, a development which the opposition leader says she is very concerned about.
01:01She notes with interest, however, that it was all local radar managed by the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard
01:09that was instrumental in the recent foiling of a kidnapping.
01:13The radar is capable of monitoring regions as far north as Grenada.
01:18You would recall that part of our debate was that we have this existing radar that can assist us.
01:24And what really was the purpose of this new radar?
01:27I think we need to remember what the prime minister said.
01:30The prime minister said as the head of the National Security Council, she could not share that information.
01:35First, we were not clear.
01:37The second time they were saying, well, you know, you can't tell the chief secretary.
01:41But eventually they told us, and I think the public must remember, that you would recall that when a boat
01:47was held or allegedly with drugs in the Cavani River and somewhere in south, that they attributed that to the
01:55radar.
01:55So it's very interesting.
01:56The radar came and left us as quickly as it was put up.
01:59It was taken down and it was left.
02:01But we maintain that that radar that we installed, that that was definitely going to assist with COVID.
02:07Six Venezuelans and two nationals were detained by local authorities in the rescue operation at sea.
02:13Meantime, with TNT having signed on to the shield of the Americas and discussions with the U.S. ongoing, the
02:20opposition leader is calling for tangible results.
02:23Tell us exactly what are the benefits of those agreements, of those discussions, and whether it would put us in
02:30a better place as it relates to the issues of our borders and crime generally, and this whole issue of
02:36narco-trafficking, which she spoke about on so many occasions.
02:39Prime Minister Kamala-Pasad-Basasa recently indicated that the United States is assisting this country with the rollout of an
02:47advanced passenger screening system with the aim of identifying potential threats.
02:53Vanessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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