UNC appeal blanked by US

This was disclosed by UNC international relations officer Dr Adesh Nanan, at a press conference at the Opposition Leader’s Office yesterday. Paul claimed a Venezuelan operative smuggled cocaine, arms and ammunition into Trinidad, as part of a plan to plant them in Baksh’s tank.

In a letter to the UNC, Ambassador Austin stated he did not wish to intervene in the business of the UNC and TT Government, Nanan said.

Nanan and UNC Senator Wade Mark, stated the UNC decided to “internationalise” Paul’s allegations, after Prime Minister Patrick Manning ignored the party’s call to appoint a Commission of Inquiry into the affair.

Nanan said the UNC had written to over 58 high commissioners, ambassadors, prime ministers and other leading dignitaries in the world. Nanan said he also wrote to Senator Richard G Lugar of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and Harold Hangju Koh, assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour at Washington DC.

Mark said: “The matter is now in the international arena. We don’t expect the people we have written to interfere. We just want them to be aware.”