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Speaker:The Honourable Basdeo Panday, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Date: June 12, 2000
Occasion: Remarks at the visit of U.S. Attorney General Ms. Janet Reno to the Piparo Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Centre at Piapro, Trinidad.
My Dear Friends:
Honourable Attorney General and other Cabinet Colleagues;
Attorney General Reno;
U.S.Ambassador and other Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corps;
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen;
The United States of America is Trinidad and Tobago�s strongest ally in our war against the international drug cartels.
Your presence in our Republic strengthens the alliance in the fight for justice and security which exists between our two countries.
Your presence at the Piparo Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Centre underscores the fact that we are achieving notable success in our battle to recapture ground that our societies might have lost to the nefarious drug networks.
Attorney General Reno:
Your visit to the Piparo Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Centre is in keeping with your reputation as a caring and compassionate Law Minister with a strong concern for assistance for victims of crime.
The Piparo Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Centre is driven by a concern for victims of the criminals behind the illegal drug trade, who routinely destroy so many lives, and so many young lives.
Perhaps the most ruthless of those criminals to have lived in Trinidad and Tobago was the man who built this fortress, here on this 100-acre estate at Piparo, the notorious Dole Chadee.
One year ago, after numerous and historic legal battles, our society rid itself of Chadee and his gang.
Now, we are putting the spoils of Chadee�s misdeeds to a positive purpose.
As can be seen from the buildings which Dole Chadee erected here, money was not a problem for him.
Chadee could therefore afford to retain a battery of prominent lawyers from this country and from the United Kingdom in his bid to escape punishment for his crimes, as he had repeatedly done in the past.
Last June, however, Dole Chadee and eight members of his gang met the ultimate punishment for their slaughter of four members of the Baboolal family.
In his bid to beat the death penalty, Chadee was supported by the international human rights lobbies, and other abolitionist groups, who launched a massive onslaught against the Government of this country.
This was in spite of the fact it was ruled that the implementation of the death penalty in this country did not constitute a human rights violation.
In all of this, no concern was directed at the two children who survived the slaughter of virtually an entire family by the Chadee drug gang.
Today, one year later, this high ranking member of President Clinton�s administration is here at the Piparo Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Centre as an eminent witness to the good that can come when we defeat crime and turn the profit from criminal activity to constructive purpose.
Acting on the tough laws that my administration has implemented to deal with money laundering and to authorise the confiscation of ill-gotten proceeds of crime, the State has confiscated this property, to convert it to a drug rehabilitation centre.
This action has been described as poetic justice.
Attorney General Reno:
Given your recognised concern with victims assistance, you will be interested to know that my administration has introduced legislation calling for victims of certain crimes to be paid compensation by the State.
We have taken an holistic approach to fighting crime.
We have reformed domestic abuse legislation.
We have also established domestic violence safety centres to provide safety, care and counseling to abused women.
Trinidad and Tobago�s reformed Domestic Violence Laws have objectives similar to those of the Violence Against Women Act which Attorney General Reno has championed in the United States.
Attorney General Reno:
You are widely regarded as a tough enforcer of child support laws.
My administration has also introduced tough new measures to deal with delinquent fathers.
Our Community Policing programme is similar to the Community Oriented Policing Service, COPS, which Attorney General Reno has also championed in the United States.
All of these measures focus on where crime hits the hardest and where crime hurts the most, within communities, and among the families of victims.
Together with all of this, we have increased the number of police officers in service, we have concentrated on training police officers, we have provided our police service with advanced technology, up-to-date equipment, enhanced technical capability, and greatly improved facilities.
We have also taken very tough measures to deal with miscreants in the police service.
Very importantly, my administration�s fiscal and economic policies have attracted a surge of private investment, largely from the United States of America, which has helped to generate a continuing wave of prosperity for the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
One outcome to this new prosperity is a significant drop in joblessness.
Parallel with all of this, we have undertaken a major transformation of our education system and our school facilities, with an imminent move to provide free secondary education for every child.
One component of the new education plan is a national skills training programme geared to the needs of the workplace, and to the knowledge based industries of the information technology age.
Attorney General Reno:
My administration has been demonstrably tough on crime, and we have been notably effective by implementing a number of measures.
This Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Centre here at Piparo, helps to tell that story.
The United States is supporting this project with training for the professionals who will operate this Centre.
We appreciate that support, Ms Reno.
We recognise that to defend our society, we have got to fight crime on various fronts, and across international borders.
That is why the partnership for Justice and Security between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago has the highest priority in my country�s fight against crime, within our borders, and across the Caribbean.
We are fortunate in this fight in having as Trinidad and Tobago�s Attorney General a crusader whose courage, tenacity and effectiveness have been commended by our Caribbean neighbours, as well as by our friends, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Trinidad and Tobago is equally fortunate in having Attorney General Reno as an advocate in the United States Government.
Attorney General Janet Reno has today written her name in Trinidad and Tobago�s history with the formal commissioning of this, the first Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Centre to be fashioned from structures and the site of the headquarters of a notorious drug kingpin.
Later this evening, we hold Bi-lateral Talks to strengthen the United States - Trinidad and Tobago justice and security alliance.
Attorney General Reno will take part in those talks with the full assurance that her country, and mine, have shared common ground in the nature of the challenges we face with justice and security, as well as in the measures we have chosen to turn our citizens away from crime, to keep them away from crime, and to protect our societies against the scourge of drugs and against all criminal activity.
Thank you.