Asianet Pakistan Private Limited

A war of words has broken out between Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) after she accused the country’s oldest political party of having links to local drug dealers.

Persad Bissessar in a statement welcoming the arrival of the United States warship USS Gravely from October 26-30, said that it will also be engaged in military training with the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF).

‘This visit augurs well for our nation. It represents a continued partnership in strengthening our national security, enhancing operational readiness, and improving protective capabilities. ‘For far too long, our open and poorly secured borders have facilitated the trafficking of humans, drugs, and firearms. Tens of thousands of illegal migrants have entered our country, and over 10,000 citizens have been brutally murdered in the last two decades,’ Persad-Bissessar said.

But she said that unfortunately, the PNM ‘and their agents are persistent in creating unnecessary hysteria and conspiracy theories in a desperate attempt to create instability and chaos.

‘It is most concerning that the PNM, a party long suspected of being financed by the local drug mafia, is overtly attempting to undermine efforts to stop drug, arms and human trafficking into our country.

‘Most disheartening is that the historically PNM-controlled constituencies are the ones most affected by drugs and bloody gang violence, fuelled by the actions of the drug cartels. Yet the PNM and their agents choose to put the interests of their drug mafia financiers in front of their own constituents.’

Persad-Bissessar said that the PNM’s main concern is ‘the protection of the illegal profits of their drug mafia financiers.

‘They have no care for the pain and suffering of their own constituents, far less all other citizens who have borne the terror of murder and grotesque violence for years.

Clearly, the PNMs’ daily disinformation campaign is aimed at derailing the ongoing drug and arms interdiction efforts so as to protect their drug mafia financiers,’ she added.

But in an immediate response, the PNM, which lost the April 28 general elections after being in power for nearly 10 years, said it ‘categorically rejects outright the Prime Minister’s entirely baseless, viciously reckless and highly defamatory statement issued today, which is a desperate attempt to distract from her government’s failures and the growing public backlash against her leadership’

The party said that this is not the first time a United States naval asset has visited Trinidad and Tobago, noting that such visits have been routine under successive governments as part of longstanding security cooperation.

‘What makes this particular visit deeply concerning is the timing. It comes during a period of extreme regional tension with Venezuela and heightened anxiety among our citizens. Instead of offering clarity, the Prime Minister has refused to address the nation or explain her government’s erratic, isolationist, anti-CARICOM foreign policy.

‘Her silence demonstrates a blatant disregard for the principles of international law and the United Nations Charter, both of which call for the avoidance of the use or threat of force and for respect for the sovereignty of all nations.’

The Donald Trump administration has been building up a military presence off the coast of the South American country allegedly as part of its fight against the illegal shipment of drugs to the United States. Washington has confirmed that it has bombed several vessels, killing all but two people, in recent times as it puts its policy into action.

Last weekend, the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat said that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders had met earlier this month to discuss several issues on the regional agenda, including the security build-up in parts of the Caribbean and its potential impact on member states.

It said that the position at that meeting was not endorsed by the government of Trinidad and Tobago.

The PNM said that it ‘condemns outright’ Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar’s ‘disgraceful and unfounded claim that the People’s National Movement is ‘a party long suspected of being financed by the local drug mafia.’

‘This is a malicious lie and a gross abuse of her office. Without a shred of evidence, she has tried to smear the PNM in the context of drug trafficking, even while sitting beside a Cabinet Minister publicly accused of human trafficking.

‘Before the Prime Minister dares to accuse anyone of corruption or criminal ties, she should first look in the mirror and confront the rot within her own ranks. Her hypocrisy is staggering. While hurling baseless accusations at others, she remains silent and complicit in the face of credible allegations within her own administration.’

The PNM said that it has always upheld ‘strong and respectful’ relations between Trinidad and Tobago and the United States of America and that under previous PNM governments, ‘our international and regional partnerships have flourished, built on mutual respect and shared democratic values’.

Meanwhile, The United States Embassy Chargé d’Affaires here, Dr. Jenifer Neidhart de Ortiz said, the partnership between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago exemplifies regional strength through collaboration.

‘Together, we address shared threats like transnational crime and build resilience through training, humanitarian missions, and security efforts. Our longstanding partnership has provided medical care and disaster preparedness training, improved lives, and strengthened communities.

‘Our cooperation ensures greater safety and stability across the Caribbean region. We are grateful for the close collaboration with our Trinidad and Tobago partners in the TTDF, and for the warm welcome provided from the government of Trinidad and Tobago,’ the US diplomat added.

A High Court judge has set November 9 next year as the date for the start of the trial of a preacher and his wife, accused of sexually molesting their child over a three year period.

Justice Renae McKay Thursday set the date for the pair, whose names have been withheld to conceal the child’s identity. They remain on bail. Prosecutors allege that the 45-year-old preacher molested his stepdaughter along with the child’s biological 42-year-old mother in New Providence.

Allegations are that the man allegedly began abusing his wife’s then-15-year-old daughter in 2022, and the molestation allegedly continued until February 10, this year.

Prosecutors say the child’s mother participated in the sexual assaults on her daughter in 2024 and 2025.

The main opposition Free National Movement (FNM) which has been urging the government to set a date for the next general election rather than hold a by-election, says it will decide later whether to contest the by-election set for November 24.

Earlier this week, National Security Minister, Wayne Munroe, said the ruling Progressive Labour Party (PLP), has already decided on Darron Pickstock as its candidate for Golden Isles constituency that had been represented by Vaughn Miller since 2017 until his death earlier this month. He will be buried on Friday. Prime Minister Phillip Davis has said he wants the PLP to regain the seat ‘to continue doing what we have been doing.

But FNM leader, Michael Pintard told reporters that the party will soon ‘make an announcement’ on whether it will contest the by-election.

‘Out of respect for our brother, Vaughn, we have been careful with the kinds of events that we have done, but we will resume on Saturday, after we’ve laid our brother to rest,’ said Pintard, who had previously called on the government to call an early general election instead of spending money on a by-election.

‘In due course we are going to make an announcement,’ Pintard said when asked if the FNM will contest the by-election.

He said Brian Brown has been working the ground for nine years, describing him as ‘a remarkable community worker.

‘People have fallen in love with him. He and his team are revving to go, and while we know that the government has a difficulty going to a general election now to ask for a new mandate, though we believe they need one, we are going to make an announcement in short order, but our people are in Golden Isles, and they are on the ground.’

Nomination Day for the by-election has been set for October 31.

The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) is warning of the possibility for catastrophic flooding and landslide impacts particularly in Haiti and Jamaica as a near stationary Tropical Strom Melissa moves closer towards these countries.

KINGSTON -Ten former Caribbean Community (CARICOM)leaders have reiterated the need for the Caribbean to be maintained as a zone of peace, saying that they are impelled to urge a pull back from military build up to avoid ‘any dimunition of peace, stability and development within our regional space that has the potential to pull the region into conflicts which are not of our making’.

ST. GEORGE’S – Former Grenada prime minister, Tillman Thomas, Friday said he believes that the Dickon Mitchell administration will make the ‘right decision’ as it contemplates a request from the United States to temporarily install a radar at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA) and the deployment of US military assets on or near the island.

BELMOPAN – The Belize government says it intends to make public, the agreement its signed with the United States to act as a ‘safe third country’ for migrants as they seek asylum in the North American country.

ST. JOHN’S – Prime Minister Gaston Browne has told public servants that they can expect to receive the payment of arrears owed to them by December.

PORT OF SPAIN – The Canadian-based world’s top potash producer, Nutrien, shut down its operations here on Thursday, even as last minute negotiations to prevent the action failed, resulting in 600 workers being sent home.

SPORTS:

BOSTON – Bahamian VJ Edgecombe began his NBA career in historic fashion with a standout performance for the Phildadelphia 76ers that led them past the Boston Celtics here on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne has told public servants that they can expect to receive the payment of arrears owed to them by December.

Speaking at a town hall meeting on Thursday night, Browne, who is also Finance Minister, said that his administration intends paying also another salary increase to public servants next year, along with a planned rise in the national minimum wage. ‘I guarantee you that life is getting better for the majority of the people of Antigua and Barbuda, and we will continue to make sure that we empower the people of Antigua and Barbuda,’ he told the meeting.

‘In fact, this year we will certainly make sure we do a back pay hopefully by December for public servants. Next year you’re getting another increase again.

‘And by the way, next year, (we will) increase the minimum wage because we can’t brag that the country growing and developing and you don’t increase minimum wage, we working for you,’ Browne told meeting.

As of January 1, this year, the national minimum wage is none EC dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) per hour.

Browne did not provide specifics with regards to the payment of the back pay, but said that the additional details would be revealed in the coming days.

Last month, the Antigua and Barbuda Public Service Association (ABPSA) had called on the government to sign the long-overdue collective bargaining agreement and resolve outstanding payment issues by mid-October, or face picket action.

The union said that the agreement has been awaiting legal review at the Establishment Division, and the delay is unacceptable given that a new negotiating period for 2024 to 2026 should have already started.

Public servants had received a 14 per cent salary increase two years ago.

President Irfaan Ali Friday said that the acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, at her own request, would be proceeding on pre-retirement leave from October 27.

‘Today, Madame Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards requested my approval to proceed on pre-retirement leave with effect from Monday, October 27, 2025 and on early retirement. After due consideration, I acceded to this request’ ‘I take this opportunity to thank Madame Justice Cummings-Edwards for her long service to the Judiciary and the people of Guyana. I express my personal appreciation for her many years of public service, I wish her God’s blessings and that of the people of Guyana,’ President Ali said in a video statement released by the government’s Department of Public Information. (DPI).

Following two months of leave, Justice Cummings returned to her Chambers at the Court of Appeal this week as Chancellor of the Judiciary where Justice Roxane George had been acting in her stead.

Ali said that Justice Navindra Singh would continue to act Chief Justice and that he was earlier Friday sworn in as a member of the Judicial Service Commission.

The opposition People’s National Congress Reform-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is on record as expressing concerns about the political neutrality of Justice Singh.

The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) is warning of the possibility for catastrophic flooding and landslide impacts particularly in Haiti and Jamaica as a near stationary Tropical Strom Melissa moves closer towards these countries.

KINGSTON -Ten former Caribbean Community (CARICOM)leaders have reiterated the need for the Caribbean to be maintained as a zone of peace, saying that they are impelled to urge a pull back from military build up to avoid ‘any dimunition of peace, stability and development within our regional space that has the potential to pull the region into conflicts which are not of our making’.

ST. GEORGE’S – Former Grenada prime minister, Tillman Thomas, Friday said he believes that the Dickon Mitchell administration will make the ‘right decision’ as it contemplates a request from the United States to temporarily install a radar at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA) and the deployment of US military assets on or near the island.

BELMOPAN – The Belize government says it intends to make public, the agreement its signed with the United States to act as a ‘safe third country’ for migrants as they seek asylum in the North American country.

ST. JOHN’S – Prime Minister Gaston Browne has told public servants that they can expect to receive the payment of arrears owed to them by December.

PORT OF SPAIN – The Canadian-based world’s top potash producer, Nutrien, shut down its operations here on Thursday, even as last minute negotiations to prevent the action failed, resulting in 600 workers being sent home.

SPORTS:

BOSTON – Bahamian VJ Edgecombe began his NBA career in historic fashion with a standout performance for the Phildadelphia 76ers that led them past the Boston Celtics here on Wednesday.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a US$90 million loan to support improvements in the reliability and efficiency of electricity service in The Bahamas.

It said that this operation is the second in a Conditional Credit Line for Investment Projects (CCLIP) approved in 2020 to finance larger programmatic support to the energy sector and promote renewable energy in the country. The IDB said that this new operation aims to enhance the efficiency of electricity metering, optimize grid management, and strengthen the institutional capacity of the state-owned utility, The Bahamas Power and Light Company (BPL).

It will benefit approximately 352,000 people across New Providence and the Family Islands through installation of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and modern smart meters, at no acquisition or installation cost to users.

The smart meters will be equipped with prepayment functionality, allowing BPL customers to better manage their electricity usage in real time. This will be particularly beneficial to vulnerable populations, numbering about 41,000 people.

Residents in the Family Islands will also benefit from an improved monitoring system based on Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) technology, which will enhance electricity-grid management in distribution and transmission networks.

The programme will develop a Geographical Information System (GIS) with digital mapping of existing electrical infrastructure. These developments will improve resilience with faster detection and restoration time, better emergency response, and enhanced quality of electricity service.

Furthermore, it will support enhancements to BPL’s data-management system, reinforce its medium- and long-term energy planning capabilities, improve financial management and corporate governance, and promote capacity building in information technology and big-data analytics.

The IDB said the programme will contribute significantly to the energy transformation reforms currently being implemented by the country, aimed at having more sustainable, efficient, and affordable delivery of electricity services.

The US$90 million loan has a 25-year amortization period, a 5.5-year grace period, and an interest rate based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).

The Belize government says it intends to make public, the agreement its signed with the United States to act as a ‘safe third country’ for migrants as they seek asylum in the North American country.

Prime Minister John Antonio Briceño said the two-year deal, which still needs approval from the Belize parliament, will mean that migrants deported from the US could apply for asylum here instead of returning to their home countries. The US State Department called the agreement ‘an important milestone in ending illegal immigration’ and ‘shutting down abuse’ of the US asylum system.

The agreement applies to Central American and Caribbean nationals, except Guatemalans, and human rights groups in the US and abroad have strongly criticised such deals, saying migrants face the risk of being sent to countries where they could be harmed.

Foreign Affairs Minister, Francis Fonseca, said the document has already been shared with the clerk and Senators, insisting ‘it’s not a secret document.

‘They will be able to have that and debate it. I already made the point that there’s a process that this has to follow. We sign the agreement. But it has to be ratified by the Senate. So there will have to be tabled, it’ll have to be tabled at the Senate.

‘We’ve already sent it over to the Senate. It’ll have to be debated there. We will have to respond to any questions and concerns raised by the Senators, but there’s also another limb which will require that we amend our domestic legislation, right?’

Fonseca said, for example, the Refugees Act will have to be amended and that it will have to be taken to Parliament and ‘we will present that amended bill, and we’ll have an opportunity to debate that and discuss that.

‘So it’ll be a very open, transparent process. And then the final point is that, as I have said, and I said in my statement in the House on last Friday, this entire agreement will be underpinned by what we call operational procedures.’

He said that the signing was just the beginning of the process, and government has to finalise those operational procedures with the United States ‘and only when we have finalised that, when it has been ratified, when we have done the domestic legislation.

‘And we have finalised and agreed upon the operational procedures. Only then will the agreement take effect. So those steps have to be followed, and all of those steps will be very open and transparent.’

Fonseca said that this position is very clear in that ‘we have a statement of principles that govern our position as it relates to the operational procedures, which means that we will determine where, which countries of origin these people will come from for that.

‘In our case, it’ll be people from Central America and the Caribbean in Central America, with the exception of Guatemala, for obvious reasons. And then we will place a cap on the number of people who will be able to be transferred to Belize. And our position is that number should not be more than 10 people per annum.’

Belize’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on social media that the agreement ‘includes strict security measures to protect Belize’s national security and sovereignty’.

‘The agreement gives Belize full authority to approve or reject transfers, limits eligibility to specific nationalities, and ensures comprehensive background checks, among other measures,’ it said.

Briceño said that for Belize it will be ‘more like a job programme, whereby people with certain qualifications can come to Belize’ and ‘participate meaningfully in our economy’.

But Opposition Leader Tracy Taegar Panton expressed ‘grave concern’ about the deal, saying it ‘could reshape Belize’s immigration and asylum systems, impose new financial burdens on taxpayers, and raise serious questions about national sovereignty and security’.

She said that the agreement will take effect after ratification in the Senate and not after the debate in the House of Representative.

‘However, there are critical omissions that raise more questions than answers. Again, I wish to reiterate the lack of transparency and accountability by this Briceno administration. This has become its hallmark, the same administration who promised to establish and uphold the gold standard for transparency and accountability in government.

‘The full text of the agreement has not been disclosed. The preamble to the agreement and some of the recitals has recently been shared with members of the Senate, however, the full text, the comprehensive text, including the annexes, transitional arrangements, technical assistance and cost sharing commitments have not been disclosed. The annual cap on numerical limits also remain unknown. How many asylum seekers will Belize be accommodating?,’ she added.