00:00Prime Minister Kamla Pasad-Besessa did not mince her words with the very title of her latest statement about the
00:07Caribbean community as she declared, quote,
00:09CARICOM cannot continue to hide a corrupt backroom operation that rots the organization to the detriment of Caribbean people, end
00:17quote.
00:18The Prime Minister said in a statement that, quote,
00:20CARICOM's ideals towards integration, integrity, and inclusion are just a smokescreen masking a backroom operation to maintain the decades-old
00:29business elite status quo and dominance of sister political parties with the region, end quote.
00:36Prime Minister Pasad-Besessa was responding to the statement by CARICOM's chairman, Sinkitsa Nevis Prime Minister, Dr. Terence Drew, on
00:44April 11th,
00:45seeking to dismiss the issues raised by Trinidad and Tobago regarding the process that led to the reappointment of CARICOM's
00:51Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett.
00:53Prime Minister Pasad-Besessa called that reappointment, quote,
00:57surreptitious, corrupted, and flawed, end quote.
01:01Prime Minister Pasad-Besessa also claimed that CARICOM's statement was crafted by the Secretary General.
01:07The statement issued by CARICOM's chairman on April 11th said that the heads of government met on the 10th of
01:13April, 2026,
01:14to discuss the issues in relation to governance of the community that have been raised by Trinidad and Tobago,
01:21especially including the reappointment of the Secretary General of the community,
01:25and that neither the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago nor any representative from Trinidad and Tobago attended the meeting.
01:32Prime Minister Pasad-Besessa said that nowhere in that statement was the WhatsApp message sent on the CARICOM WhatsApp group
01:39to all CARICOM foreign ministers at 8.55 a.m. on the relevant day addressed.
01:46The government of Trinidad and Tobago maintains CARICOM's chairman stated that in that message in the CARICOM group
01:52that the retreat in Sinkitsa Nevis, during which Dr. Barnett was reappointed last month,
01:57was a heads-only meeting and that ministers should remain for the community council meeting.
02:03The Prime Minister attached photos of that, which identified the Secretary General and other members of the group,
02:10and which also showed the message was seen by Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Sobers at 8.55 a.m.
02:17Prime Minister Pasad-Besessa said on Wednesday that to date,
02:19not a single member of the CARICOM secretariat, who she identified as a CARICOM foreign minister,
02:24who is also a participant of that WhatsApp group, has shown, quote,
02:28the decency, honesty, or courage to acknowledge that Minister Sobers is being truthful, end quote.
02:35Prime Minister Pasad-Besessa said she continues to await the documentation that she has requested
02:40in her letter to CARICOM's chairman.
02:42The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago declared,
02:45this is not a game.
02:46The future of her citizens' lives and livelihoods are directly connected to CARICOM.
02:51As she further said, therefore, this matter will continue to be ruthlessly
02:55and relentlessly publicly escalated and prosecuted until persons are held accountable.
03:02However, Prime Minister Pasad-Besessa emphasized,
03:05Trinidad and Tobago has invested billions of dollars over the past 52 years into CARICOM
03:10and will not be exiting the organization.
03:13The Prime Minister added that Trinidad and Tobago helped build this organization
03:17and will be a part of fixing it to benefit all the people of CARICOM.
03:23Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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