Who Is The Pro-Trump Leader Of Trinidad And Tobago Who Said US Should ‘Violently’ Kill All Drug Traffickers?

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has historically supported military cooperation with the United States, framing her collaboration as mutually beneficial for the U.S. and her country.

The support of Persad-Bissessar, who took office in May, began in September when she applauded Trump’s strikes on Venezuelan drug boats in her nation’s naval backyard, CNN reported.

“I, along with most of the country, am happy that the U.S. naval deployment is having success in its mission,” Persad-Bissessar said in a statement at the time. “The pain and suffering the cartels have inflicted on our nation is immense. I have no sympathy for traffickers; the U.S. military should kill them all violently.” (RELATED: How One Arrest Could Refill The Strategic Oil Reserves Biden Drained)

Persad-Bissessar said cutting off drug, gun and human trafficking would go a long way toward decreasing violence in the Caribbean, especially in her country, which had recently imposed two states of emergency, according to CNN.

“Our country has been ravaged by bloody violence and addiction because of the greed of the cartels,” Persad-Bissessar added. “The slaughter of our people is fueled by evil cartel traffickers.”

🚨 Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar — whose country neighbors Venezuela — made these remarks in a blunt statement last September.

More than any Caribbean leader, Persad-Bissessar has openly supported the Trump administration’s military presence in the… pic.twitter.com/3rvVHIfn64

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 8, 2026

The 15-country Caribbean Community, or Caricom, of which Trinidad and Tobago was a founding member, has “openly endorsed U.S. actions under the pretext of combating transnational crime,” Dr. Jacqueline Laguardia Martinez, a senior lecturer at the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies, told The Guardian.

Persad-Bissessar has facilitated military cooperation, including by permitting the placement of a “state-of-the-art mobile long-range sensor known as G/ATOR, or Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar, that is owned by the U.S. Marines and is worth tens of millions of dollars” in a coastal neighborhood of Tobago, according to The New York Times.

Persad-Bissessar also allowed the movement of troops, jets and equipment on the island, a mere seven miles from the shores of Venezuela, The Guardian reported.

Maduro accused her of “converting Trinidad into an aircraft carrier for the U.S. empire against Venezuela, against South America,” according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in November. Venezuela’s foreign minister also claimed that if the U.S. intervened in Venezuela, Trinidad would “suffer the most tragic consequences of any intervention.”

“We are not being used as a base,” Persad-Bissessar responded, noting that Trinidad and Tobago is not “susceptible to any blackmail from Venezuela for political support.”

The USS Gravely, a US Navy warship, departs the Port of Port of Spain on October 30, 2025. (Photo by MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP via Getty Images)

Following Trump’s arrest of Maduro, Persad-Bissessar issued a statement.

“Trinidad and Tobago looks forward to renewed co-operation and the strengthening of our longstanding friendship with the people of Venezuela in the coming years,” she said according to Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.

“May God guide and protect [Venezuelans] as they transition away from years of oppression and dictatorship onto a new pathway towards democracy, justice and prosperity,” her statement continued.

Persad-Bissessar also emphasized that “Trinidad and Tobago was not a participant” in any of the military operations, Newsday reported.

Now that Maduro is ousted and Trump is considering using Venezuelan oil for years, Persad-Bissessar reportedly has her eyes set on another form of natural resource — gas.

The conflict between Persad-Bissessar and Maduro led the latter to suspend talks on developing offshore gas fields, the WSJ reported.

Now that Maduro is out of the way, Persad-Bissessar’s administration may be able to achieve better profit-sharing terms in a future deal with Maduro’s successor, the outlet previously noted.