PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago — Opposition MP Marvin Gonzalez said Aug. 27 that questions about Guevara’s absence were not intended as an attack on the police service or the commissioner but were being raised in the public interest. Gonzalez said the opposition was particularly concerned about the absence of an acting commissioner while Guevara was outside the jurisdiction, pointing to Section 123 of Trinidad and Tobago’s Constitution, which provides for an acting commissioner of police during the absence of the substantive officeholder. He said the opposition had sought clarification from the Police Service Commission on whether it made the required nomination to the president, but said no response had been received.

Gonzalez acknowledged that senior public officials may have legitimate reasons to leave the country while carrying out their duties. He said Guevara subsequently indicated that he had applied for emergency leave after receiving intelligence from the Strategic Services Agency and the Special Branch that required him to leave the jurisdiction and later return to report to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who chairs the National Security Council. Gonzalez questioned why emergency leave was necessary if the commissioner’s absence was connected to the performance of his official responsibilities. He argued that such activity would fall within the commissioner’s public duties rather than personal circumstances normally associated with emergency leave.