(STLUCIATIMES)Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, acknowledging that crime is one of the most significant issues facing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), has said that the region is looking to the United States for help in addressing the region’s problem of illegal guns and ammunition.
Pierre recently attended a CARICOM crime symposium in Trinidad and Tobago.
On Tuesday, he spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a sitting of the Saint Lucia parliament.
Pierre recalled that leaders at the Trinidad and Tobago symposium decided that CARICOM would write the United States government asking the Joe Biden administration to do something about the influx of illegal guns and ammunition into the region.
“The vexing problem is guns and ammunition,” Pierre, responsible for National Security, explained.
“It has been almost proven that these guns originate from North America. So this is a major problem and we’re trying to ask the US to work with us,” the Castries East MP told reporters.
He described the United States as a friend.
“We have worked with the US in drug interdiction. They are our friends and we hope we can get together to fight that scourge,” Pierre stated.
The Saint Lucia Prime Minister spoke hours after deadly gun violence in Babonneau and Gros Islet claimed the lives of two men on Monday night.
And he expressed condolences to the bereaved.
In addition, he stated that the government was trying its best and would allocate more resources to fight the scourge of gun violence.
