Of late, Patrick Manning, the prime minister of the tiny island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, has been publicly contemplating deploying the country's navy to patrol the Antilles for drug smugglers. His statements might come as a surprise. For one, Trinidad and Tobago barely has a navy: just three 140-foot offshore patrol vessels and some patrol crafts. Additionally, the country, renowned as a Caribbean vacation spot, generally has no need to defend itself.But not everyone in Trinidad was caught off guard. The drug trade has made the island paradise a very violent place. At the same time, oil wealth has given the Manning government the means to assert Trinidad and Tobago as a regional power.Over the past decade, Trinidad's murder rate has risen nearly 400 percent; last year, the rate in the capital city of Port of Spain rivaled those in Johannesburg and Baghdad. Proliferating gangs, mostly composed of impoverished young men, are behind many of the killings, centered in the dense suburbs of Port of Spain. But shootings are not confined to the slums. Last year, a witness against a gang boss was gunned down as she left the central courthouse; another gang leader was shot to death at a popular outdoor bar.What has emboldened the gangs and caused the violence? Mostly, drugs. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Trinidad and Tobago has become a major transshipment point for illegal substances heading north from South America. Traffickers send cocaine and small arms from Venezuela, just 7 miles off the coast of Trinidad, via fast boat. The drugs are then shipped out on container ships, planes, and private yachts. Between June and November, hurricane season in the northern Caribbean but not as far south as Trinidad, the trade increases, with drug runners packing the cocaine into boats, sometimes with extra-wide decoy hulls, and sending it on to the United States and other consumer countries.Cocaine mostly passes through Trinidad and Tobago, but marijuana and small arms often stick around. Clandestine fast boats carrying large quantities of marijuana come from nearby islands such as St. Vincent and Grenada. Lately, assault rifles decommissioned by Venezuela's military have been turning up in Trinidad. Between 2001 and 2008, the number of guns seized by authorities quadrupled. Manning has tackled these problems head-on -- claiming he will build "Fortress Trinidad and Tobago," buying helicopters and summoning his security forces. But, unfortunately, the Port of Spain government helps stoke the drug trade and the gangs. The country's annual per capita GDP has risen from about $11,000 to $18,800 in the past decade due to strong exports of natural gas and steel. Still, unemployment remains high, and to create jobs, the government spends about $400 million per year on make-work projects. The bulk of this money is ultimately funneled to gang leaders, who administer "grants" and distribute "salaries." Indeed, corruption -- always a problem in the country -- is reaching new heights. According to several security analysts, a damning unofficial study carried out by the government in 2009 suggested that almost 90 percent of police officers were regularly involved in illegal activities. Those pursuits ranged from running and selling drugs, to colluding with gangs by renting out weapons to criminals, to performing extralegal killings.Plus, despite Manning's saber rattling, Trinidad and Tobago's security teams have not been terribly effective. Trinidad's security forces have never intercepted a cocaine-carrying fast boat or made a significant bust. In 2005, officers did impound a shipment of cocaine said to be worth $800 million. But this find was accidental. Late one night, officers investigating suspicious lights on a deserted beach literally tripped over the contraband.Senior intelligence officials cite the lack of arrests as proof that claims that major cartels operate in their country are mistaken. They claim the allegations are the invention of local muckracking reporters. Residents and workers on offshore oil rigs near those drug channels disagree. According to one foreign oil worker, so many fast boats cruise toward Trinidad's sheltered coves that "It's like the Normandy invasion." A few years ago, Trinidad purchased a sophisticated new 360-degree radar system. According to one senior official, the government has yet to turn it on. Another analyst disputes this, saying the problem is that too few staff members understand how to use the radar technology.Thus, whether or not Manning is effective in protecting Trinidad and Tobago from drugs and guns from overseas, it is clear he needs just as badly to tackle problems at home. To do so, he needs help -- and international supervision. A coalition of governments -- including the United States and Britain, whose navies patrol the region -- should step in to help patrol the lane between Trinidad and Venezuela. Training should also be supplied to Trinidad's Coast Guard so it can vigorously pursue smugglers. With its new navy, the largest in the English-speaking Caribbean, Trinidad may be able to fill a real void in detecting cocaine smuggling. But it has to secure its own borders first and purge its security forces of corrupt members. Until Trinidad gets serious about this, the United States should disinvite the country from regional security dialogues. With its wealth and strategic location, Trinidad and Tobago is a natural partner. Yet these countries would be wise to make sure that they do not let the fox guard the henhouse.
In a release yesterday the Ministry said that the article “Trouble in Paradise — Welcome to the World’s Newest Narcostate” was the most recent antagonistic publication written by the author, Dorn Townsend, about the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. In the article, Townsend claimed that the Government “helps stoke the drug trade and the gangs,” by funneling millions of dollars from make-work projects to gang leaders who administer ‘grants’ and distribute ‘salaries.’ The publication also allegedly quoted a foreign oil worker as saying that so many fast boats cruise toward Trinidad's sheltered coves that “It's like the Normandy invasion.” Fourteen days after the article was published, the National Security Ministry said it was responding to the article “given the potentially negative impact of Mr. Townsend’s reports.”The response dismissed the description of T&T as a narcostate, stating: “In fact, this country enjoys a strong natural gas and oil based economy. Additionally, the sustained inflow of investment proves that the nation is still a vibrant regional economic and financial hub with strong international investment portfolios. “There is a clear recognition that Trinidad and Tobago, like a number of countries in the region, is being used as a transhipment point for drugs on the way to Europe and North America. To address this matter the Government has invested heavily in the modernisation of the nation’s Coast Guard. “To date TT$1.3 billion has been spent to upgrade and build new naval facilities and purchase a wide range of naval assets.“While the country has had a small naval contingent, the Government’s new policy of securing the nation focuses on the expansion of the Coast Guard. This focus is being implemented through the acquisition of new assets ranging from near-shore patrol vessels to vessels capable of going as far north as St. Vincent and the Exclusive Economic Zone. “Already the new naval assets, which comprise two 46m Coastal Patrol Craft, fourteen 32ft to 38ft Fast Inceptor Craft and six 30m Fast Patrol Craft have begun contributing to the seizure of large amounts of cannabis and to a lesser extent cocaine, which is not usually shipped via go-fast pirogues.” The ministry said that by December 2010, the Coast Guard’s reach would be further extended with the delivery of the first of three 90m Off-shore Patrol Vessels and that “these assets are being deployed based on intelligence provided by the nation’s 360° radar system, and local and regional air surveillance.” In support of naval assets, substantial training has been conducted in both Australia and the United Kingdom and the United States continues to provide extensive training to members of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, according to the National Security Ministry.“The training has been focused on all the requisite aspects needed to effectively manage, operate and maintain these platforms, the ministry said. “Had Mr Townsend taken time to read the facts and conduct thorough research he would have learnt of these positive developments. “Contrary to Mr Townsend’s less-than-flattering evaluation of the security forces ability to detect illicit drug trafficking, the reality is that the security forces have been quite successful. In fact for 2010 already 3,645 pounds of cannabis and 76 pounds of cocaine have been recovered from vessels, and another 6,000 pounds of dumped marijuana were recovered. These numbers are up substantially from 2009 where 3,337 pounds of cannabis were seized.” According to the ministry, the Government’s effort in the fight against international drug trafficking was clearly acknowledged in the United States State Department’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) released on March 1, 2010. “Additionally, Mr Townsend’s call for United States’ and Britain’s navies to patrol the Gulf of Paria is provocative and displays an inexcusable unawareness of regional geo-politics. It also suggests that Trinidad and Tobago should surrender certain aspects of its sovereignty,” the statement added.It said the Unemployment Relief Programme was meant to bring relief to economically disadvantaged unskilled and semi-skilled in the nation and said the Government “categorically denies” that it was funneling money from the URP to gang leaders. The ministry described as “indeed disappointing” the fact that an esteemed organisation such as Foreign Policy did not conduct a proper “fact check” of the veracity of Mr Townsend’s claims.
