Caption: Wayne Sturge

By Prior Beharry

THERE is now confirmation that data from the radar set up by the US military in Tobago last month is shared with Trinidad and Tobago.

This was confirmed by Minister of Defence Wayne Sturge to AZP News on Tuesday evening.

He said, “The data is shared.”

On Tuesday, before Parliament Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar told the media to ask Sturge about the data sharing.

She said, “Our own military personnel would have access to that data, and we will have to ask Minister Sturge who else is involved. I know for sure Trinidad and Tobago personnel are involved in that exercise.”

The radar was installed somewhere between November 26 and 27. A number of military aircraft were spotted arriving at new Tobago airport that is yet to open.

Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessar initially said on November 26 that the US military officers were there to do road works on the airport.

 

The next day she admitted that they were there to install radar.

She said she had requested the installation of the radar, a Northrop Grumman, AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR.

Persad-Bissessar had said, “The new radar system assists with the detection of Venezuelan crude oil sanction-busting activities and traffickers who have been conducting deliveries of narcotics, firearms, ammunition and migrants into our country from Venezuela.

“The latest equipment enhances our surveillance capabilities and adds a superior layer of protection that was previously unavailable.”

The United States is piling pressure on Caracas with a major military buildup in the Caribbean, the terror designation of a presumed drug cartel run by President Nicolas Maduro, and an ominous warning from Trump that Venezuelan airspace is “closed.”

Since September, US air strikes have targeted alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 86 people.