Above: PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar (Photo: TGISL)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Trinidad and Tobago’s State of Emergency declaration was worth the sacrifice, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said in a public statement marking the country’s 35th anniversary as a republic.

“The immediate results since that decision have proven the sacrifice well worth it,” she said. “The crisis which loomed was averted and our nation today is more peaceful and hopeful for a permanent solution to crime than it has been in nearly a decade.”

Persad-Bissessar said now was the time to build on that start, “to commit ourselves to contributing toward a more law-abiding and regulated society, one in which there is respect for the rule of law and where the smallest of infractions are frowned upon.”