00:00The Caribbean is not facing e-firearms problem. It is facing e-firearms crisis, and the distinction matters.
00:16The declaration by Defence Minister Wayne Sturge as he delivered the keynote address at the opening of a five-day
00:23firearms training workshop hosted by the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency for Crime and Security, CARICOM Impacts, at the Courtyard Marriott
00:32Hotel.
00:34The workshop being done in Trinidad and Tobago is the partnership with the United States Bureau of International Narcotics and
00:40Law Enforcement Affairs.
00:41Problems can be managed incrementally, while crises demand a very different type and quality of response.
00:53It is that quality of response which brings us here today.
00:59The illegal trafficking of firearms continues to be the engine behind gang violence, organized criminal networks, and serious violent crime
01:13across our region.
01:16Minister Sturge said criminal enterprises are moving faster, coordinating better, and exploiting every operational and intelligence gap available to them.
01:26Ghost guns, 3D printed guns, encrypted logistic networks, these are not scenarios from a theoretical security briefing paper.
01:40They are active, evolving, real threats which confront law enforcement agencies across the Caribbean basin.
01:51Our response, therefore, cannot remain fragmented.
01:57The Defence Minister said no single state can address firearms trafficking in isolation.
02:03Trinidad and Tobago fully recognizes that modern security architecture depends on interoperability between agencies, between nations, and between intelligence systems.
02:17I want to take a moment to genuinely commend Caricom Impacts.
02:25The Executive Director of Caricom Impacts, Michael Jones, said the numbers tell a stark story.
02:31The Caribbean accounts for some of the highest rates of violent crime globally, and illicit firearms drive almost 90%
02:39of the homicides in our most impacted member states.
02:44Our region does not manufacture traditional firearms, yet we bear the full weight of their destruction.
02:53It was a point that was acknowledged by the charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Port of
02:59Spain, Mike Fitzpatrick.
03:02Firearms trafficked into the Caribbean often originate in the United States, and the violence they fuel destabilizes communities throughout the
03:11region.
03:12That is why we approach this as partners, committed to ending firearms trafficking in the Caribbean.
03:20The U.S. diplomats spoke about the U.S. partnership with Caricom Impacts in establishing the Crime Gun Intelligence Unit.
03:28In April 2021, Trinidad and Tobago authorities intercepted firearms and ammunition concealed inside punching bags at the airport.
03:39That seizure helped unravel a transnational criminal organization that smuggled more than 200 firearms and components from Florida to Trinidad
03:50and Tobago between 2019 and 2022.
03:55Authorities extradited the network's leader from Jamaica and convicted him.
04:01Straw purchasers were prosecuted in Florida, and firearms were traced back to their sources.
04:08The U.S. diplomat noted such operational successes required sustained intelligence sharing, technical expertise, and the kind of trust that
04:18only comes from working side by side over time.
04:22Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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