Initially, the U.S. had asked Grenada’s permission to establish military radar at its main airport, but with no decision as yet from the eastern Caribbean island nation, Trinidad and Tobago appears to have stepped in as a replacement with a new facility in Tobago.
In the past week, local authorities offered a plethora of explanations as to why noisy U.S. military planes were landing and taking off from Tobago in the wee hours of the morning. Explanations had ranged from joint training exercises to assistance with road construction and later on, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar admitted that the Americans were setting up a radar system at the ANR Robinson International Airport, much to the disquiet of residents, the local House of Assembly, and folks in the tourist industry who blamed the military activities for a reduction in tourist arrivals, fearing they could get caught in the middle of military conflict and cancelled commercial flights.
For many in the federative republic, just seven miles from Venezuela, critics say they are bewildered by the fact that the country is allowing itself to become involved in a sensitive geopolitics drama that could rebound negatively after the current generation of politicians in the U.S. and Venezuela leave office.
For example, Tobago’s Chief Secretary Farley Augustine says cabinet officials have left local politicians in the dark about the U.S. military presence and its ambitions, noting that, “I only learnt of it from online postings and WhatsApp groups. I wasn’t aware of it. I am currently investigating to see what transpired, why they were in space. I know they were in TT airspace for a while given the collaboration between the central government and the U.S. government, but I’m trying to get some more details. Thus far, I know they did refuel in Tobago, but I’m trying to get some details on why and what transpired,” he told reporters.
Running out of credible explanations as to what was exactly happening, PM Persad-Bissessar on the weekend admitted that a radar system is in place and says that her administration was the one that had requested it despite the country having its own 360-degree surveillance capabilities. She told the Express newspaper that citizens in the country are now safer with the radar system and said the national radar system is not functioning effectively.
“The U.S. owns thousands of satellites, they own the GPS system, they have almost 20% of their navy in the Caribbean with the most sophisticated military communications technology in existence. They don’t need to put a radar in our country to use for any military purpose. They could monitor the entire Caribbean from the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier. Sensible people understand these facts,” she said. “Tobago’s air and sea territory are the most secure they have ever been and the people of Tobago are the safest they have ever been. I am ultimately responsible for their safety and security and will ensure they never have a bloody year like 2024,” she said.”
In other nations in the Caribbean, authorities in Antigua, for example, have said they would not permit any such facilities on the island, but officials in the U.S. Virgin Islands say that such a system has been installed in St. Croix in recent weeks. Some members of Congress have said that the U.S. is paying renewed attention to its hemispheric backyard to reduce the growing influence of China and to reassert America’s might in the region.
So far, PM Persad-Bissessar has said that Washington has not yet asked permission to use the country as a base to attack Venezuela or any other nation, but several joint exercises with U.S. soldiers have been held in the republic and military planes have been seen in local airports conducting exercises, causing discomfort with the ramped up and unusual military activities in the tranquil tourist island.
Local authorities have openly thrown their support behind the Trump administration’s attacks on vessels allegedly ferrying drugs to various islands for shipment to the U.S. with the prime minister urging the Americans to “kill them all violently” and crediting the U.S. military presence with a reduction of narco, human trafficking, and violent crimes in the country.
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