Trump raised terrorism with Rowley – report
( Trinidad Guardian) White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders has confirmed to the New York Times that US President Donald Trump spoke to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on Sunday about “terrorism and other security challenges, including foreign fighters.”
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that American officials are worried about having a breeding ground for extremists so close to the United States. They fear that T&T fighters could return from the Middle East and attack US diplomatic personnel and oil installations in this country, or even take the three-and-ahalf-hour flight to Miami.
The newspaper quoted the figure given by National Security Minister Edmund Dillon of 130 T& T nationals— men, women and children—who had made the trip to Syria. By comparison, it said, about 250 citizens of the United States, a country with 240 times the population, had joined the extremists or attempted to travel to Syria by late 2015, according to a House Homeland Security Committee report.
The article quotes former US Ambassador to T&T John Estrada as say- ing that per capita this country has the greatest number of foreign fighters from the Western Hemisphere who have joined the Islamic State.
“Trinidadians do very well with ISIL,” Estrada said. “They are high up in the ranks, they are very respected and they are English-speaking. ISIL have used them for propaganda to spread their message through the Caribbean.”
The report further stated that T&T has a history of Islamist extremism—a radical Muslim group was responsible for a failed coup in 1990 that lasted six days and in 2012 a Trinidadian man was sentenced to life in prison for his role in a plot to blow up JFK International Airport in New York. Muslims make up only about six per cent of T&T’s population and the combatants often come from the margins of society, some of them on the run from criminal charges.
The newspaper said those involved saw few opportunities in an oil-rich nation whose economy has declined with the price of petroleum. Some were gang members who either converted or were For Ocean Going Vessels the opening lasts about For Trawlers the opening lasts about