LETTER: On Drunken Tirades, Bad Diplomacy, Illogical Strategy, and Geopolitical Prostitution: A Reply to Kamla Persad-Bissessar

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Dear Editor,

One must sometimes wonder if the office of Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago comes with a complimentary bottle of strong drink and a mandate to embarrass the nation.

How else to explain the recent, unfortunate utterances of Kamla Persad-Bissessar? Her performance has been a masterclass in reckless fiction, a desperate attempt to fabricate regional divisions where none exist.  

First, she falsely claimed that the US’s briefly announced visa restrictions on Antiguans and Barbudans and Dominicans were a result of “bad mouthing” America. This is an absolute pure concoction.

The fact is that the issue was swiftly resolved by Prime Minister Gaston Browne and our Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders. Moreover, as is often the case, the issue stems from a routine administrative misunderstanding, which has now been corrected through proactive diplomatic consultation and enhanced cooperation. 

Critically, PM Browne rightly demanded evidence for her baseless and outlandish claims and clarified our cordial relations with the US, but in a very surprising and brazen move, Persad-Bissessar did not learn from this and retreated.

Instead, she doubled down, then tripled down, spewing a series of increasingly unhinged statements: declaring CARICOM “unreliable,” predicting an “implosion,” and most disgustingly, accusing the bloc of aligning with a “Maduro narco government.” Let it be clear that  Persad-Bissessar is not engaging in diplomacy; instead, she is engaging in diplomatic arson to the detriment of Trinidad and Tobago.

Perhaps we should be charitable and recall the wisdom of Proverbs 20:1 KJV: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”

One is left to ponder what spirit of folly is being consumed to so willingly torch regional solidarity for a cheap domestic headline and political points.  

The irony is staggering, coming from the leader of a nation that has benefited more from CARICOM than any other. Let us speak plainly of the Common External Tariff (CET).

This mechanism, established by the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (an agreement shaped by and concluded in Trinidad), applies tariffs of up to 20% on goods from outside CARICOM.

Its intent is to promote regional industry. In practice, as PM Browne highlighted with regional support, it has been a massive subsidy for Trinidad and Tobago’s manufacturing sector.

In 2024 alone, CARICOM consumers and governments forwent an estimated US$142.7 million in revenue, paying a premium to buy Trinidadian beverages, processed foods, cement, and other goods along with services, often when cheaper alternatives exist from the US, Europe, or even within CARICOM in Jamaica and other member states. We have paid this cost, this “Trinibago Tax,” in the name of regional solidarity.

Moreover, should members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) who pay this tax more than anyone else be the first to move within CARICOM? 

And what is our return on this investment? A deranged and delusional Prime Minister who seeks to drive a wedge between CARICOM and the United States, to turn our main trading partner against us with idiotic rhetoric and falsehoods.

Lest we forget that ‘all is not well in the state of Denmark’, i.e., Persad-Bissessar presides over a nation whose economic foundation of oil and gas is depleted, a crime rate is a regional shame, a nation with a proud black population now marginalised in every part of society, and now a once-proud international stature reduced to that of a desperate geopolitical prostitute. 

More concerning to the people of Trinidad and Tobago should be Persad-Bissessar’s continuous peddling of false narratives, and her involvement in the support of unlawful warfare could make her country a target.

She is recklessly engaging in all of this while apparently dreaming that colluding to exploit Venezuelan resources would end well for Port-of-Spain. But does she truly believe “America First” has a footnote that says “except for Trinidad and Tobago”?  

In plain language, her actions are not just irresponsible; they are suicidal for her own country’s interests.

If CARICOM member states, in a rational response to our cost-of-living crises, began to strategically relax the CET and source more goods from beyond Trinidad and Tobago, where would that leave its struggling economy? The answer is clear: begging for bailouts and selling off national assets. 

Persad-Bissessar’s attempt to create hostilities with the very neighbours who prop up her economy is the height of strategic diplomatic and trade dunceness.

  There is a profound sadness in seeing the office of the great late former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and father of their nation, Dr Eric Williams, reduced to this, i.e., a platform for drunken (intellectually, diplomatically, politically, and perhaps otherwise tirades that threaten the fabric of CARICOM and her very own country. Trinbagonians must consider the long-term outcome of the path the leader they just elected has set them on. 

It brings to mind the Mighty Sparrow’s “Jean and Dinah,” a tale of certain Trinidadian prostitutes who found their relevance and sustenance entirely dependent on the presence of American soldiers during World War II.

When the military personnel departed, the women of the night and day were left bereft, their former pretensions exposed.

Should Persad-Bissessar continue on this course of alienating her neighbours and tying her nation’s fate to the most fickle of external masters, she may well be writing a modern, tragic verse for her country as the captain of a sinking ship.

In that song of a reality that may come sooner than later, the roles of Rosita and Clementina will be played by a once-respected nation, left wondering where all its friends have gone, while the true beneficiaries of the drama move on.  

CARICOM deserves better.

The people of Trinidad and Tobago deserve better. It is time for the sober adults in the room, across the region, to ignore the mocking rage of strong drink and address the serious business of building a prosperous, united, and wisely engaged Caribbean. 

Judge Hillington 

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