Military expert on Tobago installation: 'War on US radar'

ALVA VIARRUEL

THE United States is installing a “battlefield operational radar system” in Crown Point, Tobago, which is a clear indication that that country is escalating its battle-readiness as tensions continue to rise between it and Venezuela.

This was the assessment of a senior American-trained military source who told Newsday on November 28 that the intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance radar system in Tobago, has a range of 50-100 miles and is only deployed within range of the theatre of operations.

Asked what this means, the source said, “they’re getting ready for air operations.”

The installation came on the heel of a visit by chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine to Trinidad for a two-hour meeting with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann's.

Caine is the most senior military advisor to US President Trump and US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.

Confirmation of the capabilities of this radar system, came on the same day CNC3 News reported the Prime Minister confirming that another radar system will be installed in Trinidad.

She also said she was initially cagey on revealing the radar as it was a matter of high national security, but since the radar's presence in Tobago was revealed by the media, the element of national security secrecy was up.

The source told Newsday it was not one, but two systems that will be put in Tobago, and it may in fact be the same system that the Grenada government rejected being installed in their territory by the US last month.

The source surmised that Tobago “may have been the fall back position” to ensure the Americans were battle ready in keeping with their timelines to engage Venezuela.

“It’s a clear indication they’re contemplating engaging in air operations and want to secure these operations by installing a radar system closer to the field of operations,” the military expert said. He claimed this was the first ever American military equipment to be installed in Tobago.

The equipment was offloaded in pieces/segments, with the first arriving two days ago, and the rest on November 28 via two C17 aircraft.

Chief Secretary Farley Augustine, on the night of November 26, told Tobago Updates he “does not support any kind of installation in Tobago that draws us in to whatever is happening between the US and Venezuela.”

He doubled down on another programme – Channel 5, Tobago – on the night of November 27, boldly declaring: “Tobago not going to be a part of no war! Tobago and Tobagonians have adopted a position of neutrality, which means we ent pro or anti anybody…every country do whatever they feel like doing in their own space.

"Tobago is not going to get involved in whatever they want to do wherever. So if (Venezuelan President Nicolas) Maduro and Trump want to be at each other’s throats, that’s their business.”

Leader of the Tobago Island Council of the PNM, Ancil Dennis, declared, “there is a strong possibility he (the chief secretary) was aware” of the plan to install the radar systems."

Dennis called on Augustine to stand up for the island against the Persad-Bissessar administration and reject any plan to allow America to install military grade equipment on Tobago's shores.

Dennis also alleged yesterday that a company which had done work in the past for the THA, was working alongside American troops, to outfit the area where the radar station will be based on the airport's perimeter.

Dennis told Newsday: “The bottom line is we don’t want it here! I’m calling on the chief secretary to come clean and speak up for the people of Tobago.

“This is about Tobago first. I’m calling on all political, religious and civil society leaders on the island to come together, face the public in a joint press conference, and tell Persad-Bissessar and her government and their foreign partners where to get off."