00:00Political analyst Dr. Indira Rampasad says the Prime Minister's participation at the summit is both necessary and timely as CARICOM
00:09leaders prepare to deliberate on a number of significant regional matters.
00:13Among them are ongoing discussions surrounding the future leadership of the CARICOM Secretariat, divisions over the regional body's position on
00:22Venezuela and the Zone of Peace Declaration, as well as differing views on relations with Cuba.
00:29Dr. Rampasad believes Trinidad and Tobago must be present to ensure its interests are effectively represented.
00:38I think she needs to go there and air her concerns, air her concerns about the procedure in which the
00:44Secretary General was appointed, provide her justifications, you know, and, you know, I think there was a legal opinion circulating
00:53with the justifications,
00:56legal justifications from Professor Ramlogan, Rajendra Ramlogan.
01:03But, you know, apart from the legal ones, there are other justifications that I think she needs to air.
01:10Turning to the ongoing state of emergency, Dr. Rampasad says she understands the government's rationale for extending the measure, given
01:19the country's security challenges.
01:21However, she says, more has to be done.
01:24We need more. We need more. We need a lot more with regard to the crime situation. I don't think,
01:29I don't think it's, it's really, it's really going down to the extent. I think the rate is the same
01:35as it was before last year or something at this time.
01:39And that's not good enough.
01:40The political analyst also weighs in on the debate surrounding no protest zones and citizens' right to demonstrate.
01:48There's so many other spaces, those, if they designate those non-protests, then you find another space to protest because
01:55if you want your voice to be heard, you let it be heard.
01:57So it's not shutting down the voices. I think it's restricting the spaces where those voices are heard. And they
02:03can shut down the voices.
02:04You always have media. You have now mainstream media. You have social media. They have been coming in your channels.
02:10They've been speaking.
02:12Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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