Browne: PM drawing Trinidad and Tobago, Caricom deeper into confrontation

Former foreign and Caricom affairs minister Amery Browne says Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is drawing TT and Caricom deeper into confrontation with her public statements in support of the US in its ongoing tensions with Venezuela.

Browne, who is also PNM vice-chairman, made these comments on September 15.

Earlier in the day, at a news conference in Caracas, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed Persad-Bissessar had "lost her mind" and called for more respectful relations between both countries.

In a WhatsApp comment, Browne said, "It is abundantly clear to all right-thinking citizens that our small country has nothing to gain from actually encouraging tension, regime change and warfare anywhere in the world, far less for so close to our shores."

Persad-Bissessar, he continued, has taken the government and nation in the wrong direction with respect to ongoing US-Venezuela tensions.

"TT's standing in the region and internationally has been in decline due to her decision to replace diplomacy and regard for the rule of law with her reckless, cavalier and unnecessary deployment of rhetoric and inflammatory statements that have only served to increase tensions across the border and our region."

Browne, a former ambassador to Brazil (with accreditation to other Latin American nations) said, "Traditionally our foreign policy has been anchored in the principles of respect for domestic and international law."

He added, "The prime minister has not found it convenient to make any reference to such principles whilst drawing our nation and region deeper into tension and confrontation."

Browne recalled since the US began its military deployment in the southern Caribbean Sea last month, Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles has maintained that TT should avoid isolating itself from Caricom on issues related to regional security.

He said, "The prime minister's early dismissal of the role of Caricom was a big leap in the wrong direction."

TT, Browne continued, should avoid direct association with any actions that are not clearly in keeping with domestic and international law, "even as lawmakers in other capitals question the legality of recent strikes."

He said, "Together with our Caricom family, we must guard our role as neutral, lawful, and trustworthy custodians of regional security and stability."

Browne advised this should be done "with a steady focus on collaboration, intelligence sharing, mutual respect, and regard for the UN Charter and maintenance of the Caribbean Sea as a zone of peace..."

He said none of these pronouncements have been contained in any of Persad-Bissessar's statements about the US-Venezuela stand-off.

In a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister on August 23, Persad-Bissessar expressed TT's support for a US naval deployment in the southern Caribbean Sea, outside of Venezuela's territorial waters. In that statement, Persad-Bissessar supported Trump administration's position the deployment is an anti-narcotics exercise and said TT will not engage Caricom on the matter.

TT is responsible for national security in Caricom's quasi-cabinet.

Last week, Colombian president Gustavo Petro called for a search for the bodies of the people killed in the September 2 US strike on the vessel. Persad-Bissessar said TT will not be involved in any search exercise at sea.

On September 12, in response to statements by Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, Persad-Bissessar said, "We have had no discussions of invading Venezuela, of stepping onto Venezuelan soil, nothing of the sort is happening."

Last week, Rodriguez accused TT and Guyana of aligning with the US' "perverse plans" and warned that they were lending themselves "to destabilise the entire Caribbean and this continent.