Facts are stubborn things, which National Security Minister Stuart Young should have long known given his professional background as an attorney turned politician.
Faced with mounting evidence that all was not above board with the visit to T&T by Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez and her team and unable to debunk persistent allegations of breaches of US sanctions, Mr Young owes this country a full and proper explanation.
Repeated attempts by the Minister to sweep this entire unsavoury affair under the carpet have all been for nought now that US Ambassador Joseph Mondello has spoken about the talks he had with Mr Young.
It is not possible to put any spin on what Ambassador Mondello said. The stubborn and unavoidable fact, based on his unprecedented public statement, is that he did discuss his concerns about the Venezuelan Vice-President’s visit with Minister Young.
Prompted by the Minister’s statement to Parliament last Friday, Ambassador Mondello has now completely contradicted what was said then.
Issues of credibility and accountability now arise as the Minister has now been called out publicly by a senior US diplomat.
Minister Young cannot now claim that he was misquoted. He is on record clearly stating: “As I have said...we continue to have open channels of communication. In fact, last week the United States Government’s head and top diplomat in Trinidad and Tobago, that is, the Ambassador, not any underling who may or may not be speaking to the media, the United States Ambassador had a conversation with me, as a representative of the Cabinet level of the Government, and there were other conversations had and there was no raising of the breach of any treaty.”
There will be serious repercussions for T&T’s violation of a key provision of the 74-year-old Rio Treaty. Article 20 makes it unambiguously clear that all measures imposed—including the travel restrictions on Ms Rodriguez—are binding on all treaty parties, whether or not they voted in favour of such measures. T&T abstained from voting at that meeting, convened by the Organisation of the American States (OAS), to discuss cooperation on law enforcement operations and economic sanctions against the Nicholas Maduro regime.
When he became an MP, Minister Young swore an oath to “conscientiously, impartially” discharge his duties to the people of T&T. He must now give a full account for his role in a matter that may yet see the country facing penalties for breaches of sanctions and violations of a long-established hemispheric agreement.
Minister Young cannot now cast any blame on a biased media, opposition rivals or even the “underlings” he dismissed with such disdain in his statement in the Senate last Wednesday.
The country now has the testimony of an unbiased party, a US ambassador whose only political interests are for the country he represents.
Mr Young’s ever-changing and evolving positions on the issue have been a source of considerable public concern. He must now give a full account to the nation and face the consequences.