Hinds to represent Trinidad and Tobago at US SouthCom handover ceremony

Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Stuart Young will act as National Security Minister in the absence of Fitzgerald Hinds who has been invited to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the Change of Command ceremony at the US Southern Command (SouthCom) in Miami, Florida.

In a release sent to the media, Hinds’ ministry said he was invited by the US Secretary of Defense and chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff to attend the ceremony on Friday.

There he will witness Admiral Craig S Faller of the US Navy relinquish his command of SouthCom to General Laura J Richardson of the US Army.

Richardson will be the second woman combatant commander of SouthCom and the second female four-star general in the army’s history.

SouthCom is one of 11 unified combatant commands in the US Department of Defense and is responsible for providing contingency planning, operations and security co-operation in its jurisdiction which includes Central America, South America and the Caribbean, except US commonwealths, territories and possessions.

Hinds left on Sunday and is expected to return on Saturday.