Caribbean countries located in ‘a dangerous neighbourhood’ – PM

SEVERAL LAW enforcement agencies and personnel from throughout the region were involved in the 16th Caribbean Regional Intelligence Conference on Tuesday, August, 12, 2025.

The conference took place at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites at Diamond, St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Addressing participants at the opening ceremony, Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, said conferences of this nature are important as SVG and other Caribbean countries are located in a dangerous neighbourhood.

“We have guns and bullets coming from the United States of America. We don’t make them in the Caribbean so that’s one part of the danger, and I know we are trying to deal with that,” Dr Gonsalves pointed out.

“Then we have the problem of the serious drugs, especially cocaine, coming from Colombia and Venezuela.We have home-grown criminals from several countries in the region which, where we are located- Trinidad and Tobago is a major import source of criminals,” he added.

“And then, of course, there’s the issue of trafficking in persons…,” Dr. Gonsalves said, while noting that with these issues, one way to tackle the problems is through sharing information, and collaborating through intelligence.

However, the Minister of National Security noted that the bigger countries need to collaborate more with smaller countries.

He identified as areas for greater coordination and better work as intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis and appropriate action following the intelligence.

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