THE masterminds of international organised crime syndicates are targeting Trinidad and Tobago, the Prime Minister revealed on February 2. However, law enforcement agencies from the United States are prepared to help this country fight these criminals.
Dr Rowley spoke at a media briefing at Whitehall, Port of Spain, after his return the night before from the US where he met with top officials from national security agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Rowley said he travelled with Energy Minister Stuart Young, Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne and Digital Transformation Minister Hassel Bacchus, and they met officials including Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Assistant Secretary of Defense Melissa Dalton.
"We also met with officials of the FBI. We do have some problems here in Trinidad and Tobago which I will not burden you with today. We do have some internal problems."
Touting the TT-US relationship, he said, "The resources of the FBI and CIA were made available to us to deal with our own internal problems."
"We met with officials of the Department of Homeland Security who gave us a listening ear with respect to what we might need to assist in certain matters."
Rowley also met top officials of the US State Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy and attended a workshop on cybersecurity and cybercrimes at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
He said artificial intelligence (AI) can make it hard for leaders to know what is true and what is not, as he quipped it can now pass the Bar exam plus doctors' exams.
"Given the positives of the technology, there are a whole lot of negatives we now have to confront, and so we spent the morning on that and it was a great eye-opener."
The PM said local law enforcement officers were strengthening their capabilities via US-funded security co-operation initiatives. Again, he did not go into specifics.
These programmes will help with policing strategies for crime-fighting and citizen security. They also help to create specialised and vetted units against organised crime.
"Because we are now attracting elements of international organised crime, which is very concerning to the Government, we are discussing this with the US to get as much help as we can, in ensuring that our bad (crime) situation is not worsened by these developments."
Rowley named three more areas of TT-US collaboration.
"We have made plans, and the US has agreed to help us, with increased maritime operations. So we will be working on that in the coming weeks to see what we can get out of that."
He said a gun crimes intelligence unit was a priority area of collaboration between Trinidad and Tobago and the US.
"We intend to establish a cybersecurity bilateral technical working group which will offer institutional technical exchanges and digital transformation support for our people here in Trinidad and Tobago working closely with their (US) colleagues."
A statement on the White House website, recounting the Rowley-Harris meeting, referred to "key priorities, including regional security issues and the imperative of addressing firearms trafficking." Rowley said he had met a congressman who was piloting a bill to curb firearms trafficking which the PM said affects places like Trinidad and Tobago.
Rowley also told reporters on February 2 that he had not had a vacation or an annual medical check-up, but would do so just after an upcoming energy conference and Caricom leaders meeting – both being held in Guyana. He said after the Guyana engagements, he would be away for ten days. "I will be here in spirit."
Less than six months ago, on August 17 to 22, the PM flew off to Barbados for vacation, following the holding of local government elections.
In the question session, he was pressed about the interest of international criminals in Trinidad and Tobago.
He replied that Trinidad and Tobago was an open country, such as in its trade links. "Certain criminals are liking us and I say no more. I say no more." (Source: Newsday, Feb 2, 2024)

​Due credit to Dhaneshar Maharaj who is author of the following blog
TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
LANDMARK IN SAN FERNANDO.
ALLOY SHOP
The photo depicts a site on SUTTON STREET, with FREELING STREET to the east (left) and IRVING STREET to the west (right). The building seen in the “THEN” photo was what we called “ALLOY SHOP”, a business operated by a Chinese proprietor from the 1940s to the early 1970s. Grocery items were sold on the left side while the right side had a parlour where you could buy something to eat and drink and there was even a small wooden table to sit at by the window and look outside at the occasional vehicle passing or admire the greenery in Irving Park, looking northwards. My favourite meal bought at Alloy’s shop was a six cents loaf filled with butter and cheese (oily and a bit rancid at times) and a Nestlé chocolate milk in a glass returnable bottle, to wash down the bread and cheese. When funds were a little scarce, I would settle for a plain bun or coconut drops and a banana SOLO. Food items were kept in a glass case on top of which sat a cat or two and these would have to be chased away from the glass case when Alloy’s wife was making a sandwich or selling drops, buns, biscuit cake or bellyful cake. The cats were probably kept in order to keep away the mice which roamed the shop and parlour in the night and nested amidst the many spaces and holes in the old, warped wooden floor of the shop.
This was the closest shop to where we lived and I remember being sent very often when my mother was cooking, to buy a pack of curry (a penny a pack) or a pound of salt (cent a pound) and probably buying a cent Paradise Plum (three for a cent) or a ‘sours’ with part of the change. It would take me just about thirty seconds to run uphill from my house to Alloy shop to get these items. Children never walked in those days when going on errands. We would run at top speed since we had no shoes or slippers to wear at home and would try to minimize the time the soles of our feet came into contact with the hot asphalt as we went barefooted about our errands. We would fall occasionally when running and grate away parts of the skin on our arms and legs, but we were healthy kids and these bruises and scrapes soon healed without the aid of medication, not even leaving scars on our skins.
When Alloy died, his family ran the business for a while but then it was sold to an East Indian man who had a blue Opel motor car and who operated a garage in the back. This new owner kept the place enclosed day and night so no one was able to see inside the premises, except when he was reversing his car out of the garage on to Irving Street and would open the galvanize gate to do so. Once I saw a woman sitting in a hammock, while the gates were open, and I would hear the occasional crying of little children coming from the enclosed premises as I passed by. Little or no renovation was done to this building for the many years in which this garage man lived here.
The right side of the photo shows how the spot looks now. The photo was taken early on the morning of January 19, 2014. After the old wooden building was demolished, the spot stood vacant for some time. There was a short mango tree on the compound and grasses and weeds occupied the ground area. I am not sure, but I heard that the owner of Affan’s Bakery bought this spot along with the spot opposite on which the old TICFA building where WASA’s office was once located, and which has since been demolished. The mango tree has been cut down and the area fenced around some time last year and the ground paved over with oil sand. A doubles vendor now operates here out of a new truck, the tray of which has been modified to provide a mini kitchen for cooking bara, aloo pies, saheena and pholourie on the spot. (Just a passing observation. I have seen many doubles vendors with several vehicles, all of them fairly new and not of the cheap run of the mill type. Which tends to signify that a well-run doubles business can move one fairly high up the economic ladder). This doubles vendor sells from Tuesday to Sunday, taking a rest on Mondays. The business was run by a father-daughter combination, the father doing the bagging and money collection while the daughter was part of a team of cooks preparing the items for sale. I have not seen the father in recent times and the daughter has now taken over the father’s former role of bagging and cashing, though today, when I took this photo, there was a strange gentleman cashing and bagging stuff for customers.
I first discovered this doubles team on a vacant car park lot opposite the SSL main building lower down on Sutton Street, i.e., at Gomez Street corner. They operated here for a long while until CHRIS BHAGWAT, the owner of SSL did some improvement on the empty lot and began to use it as a car park for his business and to store lots of iron and pipe stuff. Chris himself would patronize this vendor on a regular basis, especially on Sundays and despite his regular diet of oil, flour and other starchy stuff has remained quite lean, not an ounce of fat showing on his slender frame.
This doubles business changed location to the pavement of the old, abandoned TICFA building (part of which is seen in the “THEN” photo) next to Affan’s Bakery, just opposite to where they are located today. I taught the owner of Affan’s Bakery (he is the son-in-law of the original founder and owner of Affan’s Bakery, so he is not an Affan, but is married to Affan’s daughter) while I was a young teacher at Naparima College, and I taught his son when I was a much older teacher at Presentation College. I would meet this bakery owner (forgot his name now) on Sunday mornings patronizing this doubles vendor who operated right next to his bakery. I discovered on one such Sunday, that he would buy a Sunday breakfast of doubles for his entire staff of Bakery workers and himself, probably giving this vendor the biggest sale for the day. During the spate of kidnappings plaguing the country about ten years ago, the bakery owner feared for his family’s safety and took his children out of school and along with his wife, sent them to live in Vancouver, Canada, where they now reside. After the old TICFA building was demolished last year the doubles vendor moved over the road to the former Alloy Shop site and has remained there to the present time.
Items worth noting in this picture are the wrapper and money collector having to stand on a bench to be at a high enough level to function properly, a green plastic chair for lazy customers to sit on and eat in the shade cast by the truck, two coolers for supplying drinks to patrons eating on the spot, a garbage bin for the exceptional customer who knows how to use it or just feels like not littering on certain occasions, a water container some distance away to the east for washing hands, a fat customer wearing a number 8 jersey to indicate that he regularly consumes 8 doubles at a time and a number of pigeons which walk around to feed on any tidbits or morsels coming their way, sometimes from sloppy eaters who allow channa to fall out of their doubles or even let a whole doubles slip out of their greasy hands.
And as I end let me remind you that the primary purpose of education is not to teach you to earn your doubles, saheena, pholourie and kurma, but to make every mouthful sweeter. (Source: Angelo Bissessarsingh's virtual museum of Trinidad and Tobago, Jan 10, 2024)

​Dr Kahlil Hassanali is a Senior Researcher with a Ph.D in Maritime Affairs. Although pursuing a doctoral degree was never part of his grand plan, life experiences seemed to inevitably steer him down this path. Now, with it completed, he intends to continue adding to the conversations related to ocean management, encouraging sustainability and contributing to sustainable development. Kahlil overcame imposter syndrome to dive into memorable personal and professional experiences in this incredible journey. We hope this story and path, will help someone who may be thinking about the field or a similar one. Here is Kahlil’s story:
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I always had an appreciation for the environment and outdoors. After living in Morvant until seven years old, my family moved to “green” Santa Cruz, where I did a lot of outdoor activities. From a young age, I always had a natural inclination and interest in the outdoors but my father’s belief that it was better to “go outside and play”, may have ultimately helped to deepen my interest.
“I might as well stick with this”
Now, my academic path may seem clear and all connected. But as a youth, I didn’t always know what I wanted to pursue. I probably could have gone into various fields, but I always seemed to lean toward sciences. My uncle said I would have made “a good lawyer” too but Geography turned out to be my favourite subject at Queen’s Royal College. Perhaps, because I had a great teacher, Ms Winnette Skinner. My love for Geography and my success in it, ultimately placed me into the Environmental category for Advanced Level (A-Level) scholarships. When I won a scholarship, I decided that I might as well stick with this.
By 2010, I had completed both my undergraduate and master’s degrees. I thought that would be it, the end of the academic journey. No more studying for me. So, I came back home and took up a research role at the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) in Trinidad and Tobago. I became involved in marine policy research and participated in fellowship programmes to gain further academic and professional experience and cultivate leadership skills. These took me to University of Rhode Island (URI) and University of California, Davis (UC Davis) in the United States.
With these programmes, I was slowly convinced that I could/should do a Ph.D. I just had to find a topic that would hold my interest. Deciding to embark on the doctoral programme was a confluence of a few factors.
In 2018, after returning from a year-long fellowship at University of California, Davis (UC Davis), I wanted to spend an extended period back in Trinidad. But in returning to work, I realised that while I loved my job, the workplace environment at the time was a little challenging.
Around the same time, the intergovernmental negotiations to develop the BBNJ Agreement (an international treaty on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction) were just getting underway. This was a topic that had piqued my interest after working with the T&T Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York during the preparatory stages providing technical advice.
The BBNJ negotiation process and some of the topics involved, were novel and dynamic and I knew it was something that wouldn’t bore me. It was something worth pursuing for a Ph.D. The last piece of the puzzle fell into place when a friend sent me a Ph.D. scholarship opportunity at the newly established Global Ocean Institute (GOI) out of the World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö, Sweden.
I still mulled over and delayed in applying because I still wasn’t sure if the time was right, despite all the signs pointing in that direction. I eventually submitted my application, only a few hours before the deadline on Carnival Sunday (just after coming back from a fete and heading out to another one lol).
I found out I got accepted in May 2019 and started in September 2019.
“I have a responsibility to do some good”.
When people hear ‘Maritime’, they rightfully may think of shipping and port management activities. For many years, this was the main focus of the World Maritime University and they have traditionally awarded doctoral degrees in Maritime Affairs. The Global Ocean Institute, however, was established within the University to have a more holistic, integrated look at ocean matters, including across all sectors and from a more environmentally focused vantage point. So, while my Ph.D may be in “Maritime Affairs”, it focuses more on Ocean Governance and my work takes a more cross-sectoral view to ocean management, to encourage sustainability and contribute to sustainable development. By creating and adequately implementing appropriate governance and policy mechanisms, systems and processes we can attempt to mediate and structure society’s interactions with oceans and seas to try to make them  more environmentally conscious and socially equitable so that humans can serve as better stewards of these spaces  while still benefitting from what they offer.
Many people ask me what specifically I wish to do with my doctoral degree or where I see myself in ten years. I usually say I hope to continue doing useful and impactful work for as long as I can. The work I’ve done during and outside the academic journey, has afforded me the opportunity to be present in rooms and contribute to conversations relating to ocean management, which I never imagined I would be part of. I have a responsibility to try to do some good while I have this kind of access and influence.
The doctoral degree has also given me greater exposure and a wider platform to develop and champion some of the ideas, concepts and practices that me, my colleagues at the IMA, T&T, the Caribbean and indeed across the world, have been working on for many years. These may be more progressive, equitable and effective than the present-day status quo.
“The experience …was also life-altering”
In addition to completing the Ph.D, I have also had some other remarkable moments.  Participating in the UN-Nippon Foundation of Japan fellowship program in 2013 really introduced me to the law of the sea (the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) which was the basis of much of my future work. It also introduced me to the United Nations system and a great network of global ocean professionals.
The experience as a lead negotiator for CARICOM on the BBNJ Agreement was also life-altering.   It was a steep learning curve, but I was fortunate to work with and be guided by an amazing group of professionals from our region. The evening that we finalised the text of the BBNJ Agreement,was a moment I won’t forget as it came after years of effort and, at that particular negotiating session, was the culmination of a 36-hour marathon session of non-stop negotiating after spending the previous two weeks trying to resolve outstanding issues.
“I want to do right by them and their efforts”
My inspiration to do what I do, comes from two sources. Older family, friends and colleagues, including first and foremost my parents but inclusive of many others, who have invested so much in raising,  shaping and guiding me. I want to do right by them and their efforts. There are some mentors who have been quite influential in my personal and professional growth. They know who they are, I would hesitate to list the names.
The other source of inspiration is the younger generation, like my niece and nephews, who I would like to see have a beautiful world to grow up in.
Although at times, progress can be glacially slow, I derive contentment knowing that I am working for a greater good and (hopefully) higher purpose. (I can’t be in it for the money because environmental work is not the best paying).
To the youngsters reading this, I want you to value individuality, but do not confuse it with individualism. I find that this is something people tend to do. Cherish your uniqueness, but always be cognizant of the fact that we need connection, we need to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper and we need to always be thinking about how our words and actions impact those around us.
To the teenager, who may be confused about their future career path, I want you to keep an open mind to all possibilities, especially in this interconnected and rapidly changing world.
It is important to take time to reflect on your motivations, passions and what brings contentment. I also think that if your initial choice does not feel right, don’t be afraid to pivot. (Source: MENtions - Stories about us, Nov. 26, 2023) 
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Kahlil continues to give thanks for what he has been given and strives to do justice by the people and forces that have blessed him.