National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds has admitted that Trinidad and Tobago has “limited capacity” to protect its borders from illegal drugs and guns. In a ceremony attended by US ambassador Candace Bond who also delivered remarks at a handing-over ceremony of a donation by the United States government of four naval assets to the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard as well as the upgrading of its Maritime Operations Command Centre.
The assets and upgrade cost approximately US$1.6 million. The ceremony took place at the Coast Guard Headquarters, Staubles Bay, Chaguaramas.
Hinds said: “We do have capacity but I would say limited capacity,”. “This donation wouldn’t take us a hundred per cent and while the country’s naval capacity was not 100 per cent, yesterday’s donation of the shallow draft naval vessels “will certainly put us in a far better position and for that we are more than grateful”.
Also acknowledging strong the relationship between Trinidad and Tobago and the United States. Both Minister Hinds and Ambassador Bond agreed that transnational threats can only be combatted through bilateral collaboration: “Today’s handover is a timely one as countries across the world face threats to border security brought on by transnational criminal activity, including the trafficking of guns ammunition, narcotics and people.”
He also said the Defence Force “stands to benefit, very directly and very significantly from the upgrade of the maritime operations command centre: “This newly refurbished and modernised centre allows the Defence Force to more effectively monitor vessels, track vessel traffic more effectively and to integrate the use of geospatial mapping technology and to streamline operational processes,” he said. He stated that this would “lead to increased maritime domain, awareness and more effective command and control”.
Ambassador Bond said the “challenges that we confront to dismantle illegal networks serve as a reminder that it takes a network to defeat a network, a single organisation cannot tackle the problem alone”.