00:00I'm thrilled to be here at the second meeting of the Shield of the Americas. The Shield of the Americas
00:05is a big deal. Maybe you don't know it, but it's a big deal.
00:09United States President Donald Trump speaking with the media at the United Nations in New York during a meeting of
00:15the Western Hemispheric Group, which Trinidad and Tobago joined in March of this year.
00:19Your countries are doing very well. There's been a big shift in your countries, a big shift to the right.
00:26That's a good thing. But for too long, leaders before us allowed many parts of the Western Hemisphere to become
00:32badly destabilized by cartel violence, uncontrolled migration and foreign interference. And you know that better than a lot of you
00:40got elected for that very reason. You want to stop it.
00:43The Office of the Prime Minister said Prime Minister Kamlo Posad-Basasa attended the Shield of the Americas meeting at
00:50the UN.
00:51For years, cartels have waged war on the people of this hemisphere now. We're waging war on them. The job
00:57of every leader in this room is above all to protect the physical safety of your people.
01:02These are violent terrorist paramilitary forces in control of physical territory and that's because nobody ever did anything to stop
01:09them. You're much tougher than them and you have the backing of the United States and that makes you much
01:16stronger.
01:17And the U.S. President called on the member states of the Shield to take a new step in their
01:22war on drug cartels.
01:24So today I'm asking all nations in the Shield of the Americas to formally designate narco-terrorists as common threats
01:31to stability and apply crushing sanctions against all 24 U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations.
01:38Until I came along, nobody designated anything. You were on your own, but now you're not on your own anymore.
01:44The OPM said Trinidad and Tobago joins with fellow member states of the Shield of the Americas to designate 24
01:51criminal gangs and organizations as terrorist organizations and added this designation will help in limiting the ability of these gangs
02:00to perpetrate acts of violence throughout the region.
02:04This is the largest and most powerful alliance for economic and national security ever to convene in the Western Hemisphere
02:12and I'd say that's pretty good.
02:13The Office of the Prime Minister said Trinidad and Tobago's stance of solidarity within the Shield will bring meaningful change
02:19and improve the lives of all of our citizens through a strategic partnership with the United States of America to
02:26strengthen our collective economic security, energy security and national security.
02:33Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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