Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says she stands by her previous comments that drug traffickers should all be killed violently.
In response to questions from the Express about the United States’ military air strike on a vessel on Tuesday which killed six people, including two nationals, the Prime Minister said yesterday, “I stand by my previous comments. Nothing has occurred to cause any change in my opinion.”
The Prime Minister did not offer any further information.
Earlier yesterday, she declined to address the reported deaths of the two Trinidadians in a United States military strike on a pirogue off the coast of Venezuela on Tuesday.
Persad-Bissessar did not speak to reporters at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, following a second lease distribution ceremony for former Caroni (1975) Ltd workers.
She refused media requests for an interview, as did Defence Minister Wayne Sturge.
Legal Affairs Minister Saddam Hosein also declined to comment.
Hosein deferred to the Prime Minister and said questions may also be better directed at Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Sean Sobers.
The Legal Affairs Minister said he preferred to “stay in my lane”, noting he was present at the Diplomatic Centre to distribute leases.
Last evening, Minister Sean Sobers told the Express there was no evidence to suggest the two men were on that vessel.
He advised that the relatives of the two men should go to the police and file a missing person report so that they can investigate.
“At this juncture we have no evidence as to anybody who was on that boat. There has been no reported surfacing of bodies,” he said.
Sobers noted the position articulated by the family of the men is that they were on the boat, but this was not grounded in any facts or evidence.
He said there was one media report in which a relative stated the men travelled to certain South American countries for months at a time.
Sobers said diplomatic relations between Trinidad and Tobago continue, but there was nothing from official channels in Venezuela providing any information or evidence about any T&T nationals being among those killed.
