In war on drugs and gangs, Kamla tells UN: 'Fight fire with fire'

PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says Trinidad and Tobago fully supports US President Donald Trump's war against drug cartels and criminal gangs in the Western Hemisphere.

Persad-Bissessar said this threat demands that TT and all democracy-loving nations fight fire with fire within the boundaries of the law.

To this end, she pledged TT's support for a US, Panama-led initiative to create a gang suppression force GSF) to combat criminal gangs in Haiti. Persad-Bissessar also lamented the Caribbean is no longer a zone of peace because of the dangers posed by transnational criminal organisations, such as criminal gangs and drug cartels.

Persad-Bissessar made these statements during her address to the 80th UN General Assembly in New York on September 26. This was her first official overseas engagement in her second term as prime minister, after the UNC won the April 28 general election. Persad-Bissessar was first prime minister from May 24, 2010-September 7, 2015.

She repeated the endorsement she made in August about the US military deployment in the southern Caribbean Sea, outside of Venezuela's territorial waters.

Earlier in the week, in his address to the General Assembly, Trump repeated the US' designation of drug cartels such as Tren de Aragua and MS-13 as foreign terrorist organisations.

"For this reason, we've recently begun using the supreme power of the United States military to destroy Venezuelan terrorists and trafficking networks led by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the USA."

The US has put a US$50 million reward on Maduro, calling for information to convict him as a drug trafficker.

In her address, Persad-Bissessar said, "President Trump’s comments on the deleterious effects on countries of relentless narco and human trafficking, organised crime, and illegal immigration are correct."

She declared, "Therefore we will fight fire with fire, within the law." Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Sean Sobers, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) Barry Padarath and OPM parliamentary secretary Nicholas Morris applauded Persad-Bissessar as she made this statement.

Questions have been raised in international circles about the legality of US military strikes on alleged drug vessels in the southern

Caribbean. On such strike on September 2, was deemed by the US to be against a vessel allegedly operated by Tren de Aragua.

At a post-cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's, neither Defence Minister Wayne Sturge nor Homeland Security indicated whether or not government had evidence which showed the strike was legal.

Persad-Bissessar has supported the strike. On September 2, she said, "I have no sympathy for traffickers. The US military should kill them all violently."

Persad-Bissessar said this is why TT willingly supported a US-led international alliance of countries to "combat drug trafficking in the (Western) hemisphere." Other nations in this alliance include Guyana, Argentina and Paraguay."

She added, "TT is very committed to contributing our resources as scarce as they may be and our capabilities to this alliance in line with the them of this year's General Assembly, better together." Persad-Bissessar did not elaborate on the resources and capabilities she mentioned.

Referring to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2025 World Drug Report, Persad-Bissessar said, "The global drug economy destabilises institutions, corrodes democracy, and undermines development."

She described this as a war without borders.

"The cartels and the governments that enable them are taking us for fools."

Persad-Bissessar warned if left unchecked, criminal gangs could replace governments, and states may stand in name only but collapse in substance.

She said this was evident in Haiti.

"Armed gangs, political collapse, and food insecurity have converged to overwhelm democracy and create a protracted emergency."

TT, she continued, praised Kenya for taking lead in a Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) to restore law and order in Haiti.

The MSS, an international police and military force was authorized by the UN Security Council in October 2023 to help the Haitian government restore law and order amid escalating gang violence and political instability.

In addition to Kenya, Jamaica, Bahamas, Guyana, Barbados, and Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin and Chad have personnel in the MSS.

In a statement on September 22, the US State Department also praised Kenya's leadership of the MSS and said it has laid the groundwork for this next phase, the GSF.

Persad-Bissessar endorsed US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea's statements that "the next international force must be resourced to hold territory, secure infrastructure, and complement the Haitian National Police."

She also endorsed Shea's comments about a parallel approach being taken to disrupt gang financing, arms trafficking and other measures which contribute to instability in Haiti.

"We urge the international community to support us...support the US...to support Panama's proposed gang suppression force to allow the deployment of a 5,500-member force to subdue the gangs and restore order in Haiti.

Persad-Bissessar said there must be a collective effort "to combat transnational crime, uphold democracy, and restore peace and security in our nations."

She added, "Therefore despite being a very small country, with limited resources, we are committed to sharing the burden with the US, with Panama and all countries willing, in assisting the gang suppression force (GSF)to bring some semblance of peace to Haiti."

Persad-Bissessar did not elaborate on what this meant.

In a statement on September 7, Caricom noted the US-Panama proposal to the UN Security Council for the creation of this force.

"This initiative comes at a critical moment in the continuing degeneration of the insecurity and humanitarian situation in Haiti with its increasing cortège of killings, kidnappings, gender-based violence, loss of territory and the displacement of huge numbers of persons at the hands of the armed gangs."

The proposal calls for the transition of the MSS into the GSF.

Caricom called on the permanent members of the UN Security Council to consider the dire and precarious straits the Haitian people have found themselves in for a long time. "The people of Haiti have had to suffer for far too long."

Caricom believed the adoption of this proposal by the council will bring a glimmer of hope and the promise of relief to Haiti.

Persad-Bissessar repeated TT's support for the US military deployment in the Southern Caribbean Sea.

She also repeated her view the Caribbean is no longer a zone of peace because of the threat of transnational crime.

"The reality is stark—no such peace exists today."

Earlier in the day, St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley called for the restoration of peace in the Caribbean and the removal of US forces.

Persad-Bissessar said TT has witnessed the threat of transnational crime within its own borders.

"In 2024, TT, a nation of 1.4 million, recorded 623 murders — forty-one per one hundred thousand — with over 40 per cent gang-related, driven by narcotics and firearms. She added in the last 25 years, TT has has over 10,000 murders, which is equivalent to losing one per cent of its adult population.

This agreement was signed in December 2024 under the then PNM administration.

On August 23, in support of the US military deployment Persad-Bissessar said government would allow the US to use TT's territory under a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed in December 2024, if the US made a request to do so to counter any Venezuelan incursion into Guyana.

Venezuela and Guyana have a long-running border dispute over the Essequibo region between both countries. The SOFA was signed under the former PNM administration.