COCKROACHES AND FOWL PARTIES

Just about every Trinbagonian knows the old adage 'cockroach have no right in fowl party', and even if you are not from this part of the world the visual image that the adage brings up is so clear that it doesn't take much to understand its meaning.


I was reminded of this old adage about cockroaches late last week when I heard Prime Minister Rowley, Minister of Communications (and everything else) Stuart Young and Foreign Minister Dennis Moses trying to defend their rather incoherent policy towards Venezuela and Nicholas Maduro (or as I prefer to call him 'Mad-burro').


Dealing with Mr. Young first: I heard Mr. Young on Thursday say (in my words) that Maduro (Mad-burro) was the legal President of Venezuela and that those who were critical of the TT Government's recognition of him should read the Venezuelan constitution. Mr. Young said that Maduro was the legitimate President of Venezuela under that country's constitution. To which, I say, guess what, Stuart? I've read the constitution. And guess what? Maduro (Mad-burro) is NOT legitimately that country's President in accordance with Venezuelan law.


Why do I say that? Well, let's start from the beginning: Presidential elections were held in Venezuela on Sunday, May 20th, 2018 for the Presidential term due to end on 10th January, 2019. Whoever one that election would be the President for the next six years from 10th January, 2019. So far so good! BUT (and it id a big "but") the Donkey rigged that election by locking up his opponents, driving some of them into exile and literally forcing any other potential contenders out of the race. No wonder that the world regards this so-called "election" as fraudulent.  In other words, there was no President-elect after 20th May, 2018.


Now, section 233 of the Venezuelan constitution says that in the absence of a President-elect the President of the National Assembly becomes the interim President. It also goes on to say that the interim President should call an election within thirty days. In other words. the President of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, has legally become the interim President of Venezuela.


And so, Stuart, your government's recognizing Mad-burro was not exactly in keeping with the rule of law. If you had said something like power comes out of the mouth of a gun and he who has the guns rules, and therefore you are recognizing Mad-burro as the President because he has the guns you would have been closer to the truth. But to try and say that Mad-burro is legal is really too much of a stretch, and quite frankly destroys whatever credibility you may have had in this issue.


Now let's turn to the goodly Messrs. Rowley and Moses. I'll deal with Mr. Moses first. There is another old saying that bears repetition which is that when a man says something that you don't understand 98 percent of the time it is because he does NOT WANT you to understand what he is saying; 2 percent of the time its is because HE doesn't understand what he is saying. Having tried to listen to Mr. Moses various public bleatings I am satisfied that the man is a fool and doesn't understand what he is talking about. And the old adage about never argue with a fool because he will only bring you down to his level and then beat you with experience is well worth taking note of.


Which brings us finally to the Prime Minister. Dr. Rowley says several things: first of all he says that Trinidad  Tobago is firmly neutral and takes no sides. (So far, so good). Next he says that the legitimate government in Venezuela is that of the Donkey's and as such that is the one that T&T recognizes. Then he says that his government has reached out to Mad-burro. Then he says that the T&T Government stands ready to mediate between the Donkey and Mr. Guaido. And finally, he tells the United States to go jump in the nearest lake, not to pass go and not to collect $200!!


Dr. Rowley preaches the doctrine of non-intervention rather conveniently forgetting how T&T found itself in real trouble with (you guessed it...) the Americans in 1983 when T&T refused to support the American intervention in Grenada. I'm not going to debate here the theoretical rights or wrongs of that decision except to note that it definitely was NOT in T&T's best interests. This country paid dearly for its "principled stance"  by a then PNM government. In the same way, whether or not you really do believe that Dr. Rowley's stance on Venezuela is correct (and for the record, I don't ... but that's another debate) my point is that it is certainly not in our best interests right now. We are going to pay dearly for our so-called "independence".


And by the way, would you agree to a mediator who has already come out publicly and said that he supports your opponent? No? I wouldn't either. But Messrs. Rowley, Young, Moses et al apparently don't see why Mr. Guaido should not accept them as mediators. 


And just about every major western democracy has said that it recognizes Mr. Guaido. The British have been reported as placing $1.2 billion in gold reserves under Mr. Guaido's control. Frankly, it looks like the beginning of the end for the Donkey and his narco-kleptic regime.  Venezuela is becoming increasingly isolated and the regime's days are looking decidedly numbered. And so, Dr. Rowley, my question to you is what are you going to do when the Donkey falls? What will happen to your Dragon Gas deal when Mad-burro is gone? Have you got a Plan B?


Quite honestly, I think that Mrs. Persad-Bissessar was acting in T&T's best interests when she said in Parliament that the Opposition recognized Mr. Guaido. It is only a matter of time before he  gets de facto power in addition to the de jure (legal) authority that he now holds. Mr. Guaido is bound to take note of who supported Mad-burro and who did not.


The public castigation of the American ambassador could not have been in our best interests. Further, Dr. Rowley left yesterday to try and meet with the UN Secretary General today AFTER the UN Security Council debated the Venezuelan problem on Saturday. What is wrong with this picture?


And you wonder why I opened this post with a reference to cockroaches in a party of chickens'?