Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

UNC Po­lit­i­cal Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar says the de­por­ta­tion of Bernie Camp­bell–the for­mer cam­paign strate­gist of Barack Oba­ma–is an in­ter­na­tion­al dis­grace that will af­fect diplo­mat­ic re­la­tions be­tween T&T and the US. Speak­ing to re­porters at La Ro­maine yes­ter­day, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the de­por­ta­tion showed the dou­ble stan­dards of the PNM ad­min­is­tra­tion. "Calder Hart is free to come and go while he is un­der so much sus­pi­cion, yet these bona fide men from the Oba­ma team were de­tained and treat­ed like com­mon crim­i­nals," she ex­claimed. Re­lay­ing the in­ci­dent, Per­sad-Bisses­sar ex­plained that AKPD's Camp­bell was de­tained at Pi­ar­co In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port on Thurs­day night.

She not­ed that Camp­bell was one of three strate­gists whom the UNC had hired as con­sul­tants to strength­en the elec­tion cam­paign. "He (Camp­bell) has been here be­fore. He has come in to hold dis­cus­sions for con­sul­tan­cy with us to strength­en the elec­tion cam­paign. When he re­turned they took away his pass­port and de­tained him all night. They said they would put him on the first plane back to the US," Per­sad-Bisses­sar. Re­gard­ing state­ments that Camp­bell did not have a work per­mit to op­er­ate in T&T, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said: "The law is clear, and any per­son can come here and work for 30 days with­out a work per­mit.