The events of December 2023 have destroyed the nation of Trinidad and Tobago.
It was building for most of the year, with the wanton shootings, home invasions, extortion of businessmen everywhere, and finally—if anyone was in doubt—the Courts Megastore incident. Then that was followed by the almost unbelievable assassination of three men, and the death of an innocent businesswoman as collateral damage.
How the words of PNM ex-prime minister Patrick Manning return to curse the current administration!
But it then got worse when—amidst a plethora of killings of women and children, and missing men and boys—there was the kidnapping of a San Juan businesswoman. This was reminiscent of an unsolved Siparia kidnapping, and both were felt all across the nation.
The Autorama family are San Juan icons, known in business for years. They are law-abiding, normal people, and like so many others, worked in a legacy business which was begun by their ancestors as micro-enterprises on the backs of donkeys and mules. Today, they have risen up as employers, contributors to the nation’s commerce; but they are kidnapped, assailed and terrorised.
I assure you, as of now, every parlour-keeper, every tradesman, every professional, every retiree in San Juan is hoping for a lottery ticket win to the US for good, and many are packing as we speak.
Mind you, the Government is not on their side. One notices carefully that in the midst of all this hardship, the only response from the State is an obsession with the wicked(est) property tax and a daily diatribe from a grinning “they ain’t riot yet” minister of finance, a duck-and-run “I am not responsible for the safety of the nation” from the minister of national security, and a prime minister who is happy to just open overpasses to suit the upscale Victoria apartments and belch comess with the Opposition leader.
The police commissioner also had an intervention by advising of the increase in Firearm User’s Licences—imagine that. So, if you wanted a gun, you’d have to pay more; but the criminal element pays nothing to the State.
The Prime Minister beats his chest that he is also the Prime Minister of Tobago—and so does he take ownership of the 14 murders in Tobago (as of December 30), the accidents, the failed public transportation and the terrible, terrible death of a woman who was burned alive there?
Mr Prime Minister, where are you in all of this? Hiding behind Erla, Collis? Rohan? The Tobago MPs? What has become of your impotent leadership?
Despite the trite narrative coming from the criminologists, the columnists, the religious leaders (who are busy blessing same-sex relationships) about parenting, access to resources, geographical discrimination and stereotyping, crime has finally destroyed the nation of Trinidad and Tobago.
Linda Capildeo
St James
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