00:00For more than a year, Trinidad and Tobago has operated under rolling states of emergency.
00:06Now, as the latest SOE comes to an end, the opposition says the country deserves a clear counting of the
00:13results.
00:14Opposition leader Penelope Beckles is specifically seeking information on the thousands of people detained under emergency measures,
00:21including how many were charged, how many were released without charge, and how many ultimately faced successful prosecution.
00:30I mean, I made the point a couple of days ago that come the 15th, when it expires, hundreds of
00:37people are going to be released.
00:38And the fact is that, well, let's say if you look at what happened for the first state of emergency
00:46and the second state of emergency,
00:47it would be a lot of people that would be released.
00:49So the question arises, why are these people being charged?
00:54It cannot be that you're using your extraordinary powers under the state of emergency to simply arrest people, keep them
01:02in custody, and then release them.
01:05And she says the government has had ample time to build cases against those it identified as serious criminals.
01:12And the truth is that when the government makes it very clear, when they have their press conference, it is
01:19already hell that they have the evidence.
01:21In other words, they're able to tell you what gang they are from.
01:24They're able to tell you that they were arrested before.
01:27They tell you they're known to the police.
01:29They give you all basically what we as an, or the average citizen would think as evidence.
01:34Beckles is also questioning the financial cost of the measures, saying, quote,
01:40billions have been spent on rolling SOEs if one considers the appropriations to national security, the TTPS, and law enforcement,
01:48end quote.
01:49With the SOE now ending, Beckles is also raising concerns about what happens next,
01:54particularly whether those identified by the state as dangerous will pose a threat once extraordinary detention powers are removed.
02:02She's calling on Prime Minister Kamala Prasad-Bissasa, who chairs the National Security Council,
02:07to account to the nation for the outcome of the emergency measures.
02:11For the opposition, the question is no longer simply what powers were exercised, but what tangible results were achieved.
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