KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves, the permanent representative to the United Nations, is not optimistic about the outcome of an expected New York Police Department (NYPD) internal review of his arrest by one of its officers on March 28.
The diplomat’s doubts exist even after Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, informed him on Tuesday during a visit to the Vincentian Mission, that she had persuaded the law enforcement agency to conduct a thorough internal review of the incident.
“She (Rice) was very clear that the United States takes its responsibility very seriously to protect all diplomats and to protect their dignity and that they should be free from the sort of indignities that St. Vincent and the Grenadines was subjected to. There was no water in her mouth when she said that. She was very clear about that,” Gonsalves said Wednesday night.
He was at the time briefing and responding to questions from Vincentians in New York about his arrest — and the fallout thereafter.
Gonsalves was handcuffed for about 20 minutes by the NYPD officer after he stepped through barricades outside the building where this country’s U.N Mission is located in Lower Manhattan, New York.
The NYPD officer cited “disorderly conduct,” according to a statement Gonsalves filed with Kingstown last month. (CMC)