A senior U.S. military officer warns that the return of terrorist fighters to Trinidad and Tobago can pose a major threat to the country.
Col. Claudia Carrizales, chief of the U.S. Embassy’s Military Liaison Office, said nationals of the country who are in detention in Syria and Iraq are expected to return in a year.
Carrizales questioned if the country, government and citizens are “ready to deal with that kind of threat.”
She made the comment while delivering the keynote address at a business forum hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago at the Hilton Hotel, Port-of-Spain.
Carrizales first spoke about the attempted 2018 Carnival terror plot, which she said was not a hoax.
“If there is anyone in this room that does not believe that the Carnival threat of 2018 was real, then you are hiding under a rock,” she said.
The police arrested 13 individuals for the terror plot, who were later released without charge.
Carrizales said the fact that nothing happened was a “huge success for this country” and the government.