Arrest warrants were issued, says Mottley

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley described as “unfortunate” the use of the word “kidnapping” to refer to the return of Trinidad and Tobago citizen Brent Thomas on an extradition request in October 2022.

Speaking in a televised interview last night after the CARICOM Leaders’ Retreat at the 50th CARICOM Heads of Government meeting in St Kitts and Nevis, Mottley said the issue was addressed two years ago.

She was referring to comments by Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who said Thomas was kidnapped from Barbados and returned home via a Regional Security System aircraft.

‘Unfortunate’

“These matters were addressed since 2023 by the attorneys general of both Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. To describe it as a kidnapping is a most unfortunate term because arrest warrants were presented by the Trinidad police to the Barbados police. As to what happened, we don’t know, because we don’t get involved in operational matters,” Mottley said.

She acknowledged at the time, as previously stated by former Attorney General Dale Marshall, that the formal process of extradition, which was done with other countries, was not an intra-regional practice.

“That is why the CARICOM arrest warrant is being pursued. That is why legislation has to be passed in every CARICOM country to be able to facilitate that CARICOM arrest warrant,” Mottley said.

“But to describe it as kidnapping or to suggest that any member of Cabinet or any member of the permanent secretary class or Government of Barbados is involved in kidnapping is a scurrilous lie and defamatory in the extreme. We all know what transpired and it is regrettable that it happened.”

Marshall told the Midweek Nation

of May 10, 2023, the Government of Barbados had no knowledge of the situation until it broke in the Trinidad and Tobago press.

“We simply had no knowledge nor involvement in this matter. This is not unusual as these matters are operational and such requests for surveillance by another law enforcement arm or for arrests of individuals do not fall within our purview.”

He too disagreed with the use of the term “abduction” by Trinidad and Tobago Justice Davindra Rampersad when the matter went to court there, but accepted liability. “To the extent that there may be any legal liability attaching to the actions of the Barbados Police Service officers, I can assure you that the Government of Barbados will abide by the law and fully respect any decisions of the law courts,” Marshall said at the time.

Last night Mottley also addressed CARICOM’s relationship with the United States, marked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s attendance at the regional conference.

The Prime Minister said the region had not had any serious agreement with the US since President Ronald Reagan’s Caribbean Basin Initiative almost 50 years ago, explaining that the member states discussed a framework of cooperation on structured migration, trade and investment, disaster preparedness, security issues, human development and technical assistance.

Concern

“We recognise that we live in the same neighbourhood and that really and truly, if Caribbean people are not safe, secure, prosperous, it’s going to be very difficult for others in the neighbourhood to be so,” adding the key was to find common purpose among the differences and nuances.

There was also discussion on Cuba, most of its operations now crippled by a USled embargo. Mottley said a joint statement would be issued by the US and CARICOM on Cuba and the need to provide humanitarian support.

She said the forum acknowledged the rest of the region would be impacted by what happened in Cuba and they hoped to see a working together “to make sure that things will redound ultimately to the benefit of the Cuban people and to ensure that whatever happens does not in any way negatively affect the Caribbean”.

Mottley said in the interview there were some tangible decisions arising out of yesterday’s forum on improving governance and financing.

“We’ve been delaying a lot of these decisions and we finally agreed to set up a subcommittee of heads who will, hopefully, help us work through the weeds to make the institution of Caribbean Community even more effective than it is now,” the Prime Minister added.

The CARICOM Heads of Government meeting wraps up today.

(SAT)

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