TRINIDAD & TOBAGO - A NARCO STATE

 

When my cousin was murdered some twenty-five years ago (N.B. The person who ordered his murder as well as the actual hitman were never charged) I spent considerable time and energy into trying to find out what happened. Very, Very briefly, my cousin was murdered on the order of an English Drug Lord to a Trinidadian Drug Lord who engaged a police corporal to do the deed. During the course of my investigation I discovered that there were at that time twelve major Drug Lords in Trinidad of whom my cousin's killer was one. I also found out that the 'black' or drug economy was equal to this country's then budget, which was about sixty billion dollars.

(Incidentally, just so you can appreciate that number: if I gave you one billion dollars on the day that they crucified Jesus Christ, and you lived forever and spent at the rate of a thousand dollars a day, you would have something like a hundred and ten years to go before you ran out of money.)

In the ensuing twenty-five years nothing has really changed and it is most unlikely that the twelve major Drug Lords have ceased their nefarious activities. It Is also quite possible that there are more than twelve major Drug Lords today. I honestly don't know because after delving into the story and giving what I knew to the police at that time, I stopped looking into the matter when I realized that the police were going to do nothing about the murder of my cousin. But you can readily appreciate where the money to buy the guns that are plaguing us right now is coming from.

Why am I raising this now? Because it has struck me that although we like to pretend that we are so much better than Venezuela which has become a Narco State and which is heavily influenced (if not controlled) by Drug Lords the sad truth is that we are in the same boat. At the time of my cousin's murder the drug trade was worth about Sixty Billion TT dollars a year. My guess (and it is purely a guess) is that it is much more now. The point is also that these monies flowing into and out of TT must be having an effect on the local economy. In other words, if is cut off we all could suffer. So it wouldn't be in any government's interest  (much less ability) to interfere with this.

Some may ask why I haven't named any of the Drug Lords. The answer is because I have never had any proof that could stand in a Court of Law. Did I tell the police? Yes.

 Let me put it like this: I was at your house at midnight last night. I know I was there and you know I was there, but I am going to lie and say that I wasn't. Nobody except you saw me and I have a dozen witnesses who will swear that I was with them. The result? I will not be found guilty - even without my 'witnesses'  as it would be your word against mine, and a person is not guilty unless and until the evidence is beyond reasonable doubt. In other words, you can't prove beyond reasonable doubt that I was there. It would be your word against mine. The proof that I had was something like that. I had no evidence that could stand up in a Court of Law (and still don't). But that doesn't mean that I don't know what happened or who killed my relative and why, (he was killed because he had discovered that the TT Drug Lord was doing the illegal business with the English Drug Lord)  just as you would be unable to prove that I was at your house last night. It doesn't mean that I wasn't there, just that you can't prove it.

But this article is not about my cousin's murder. It is about the fact that we have become a Narco State and that the Drug Lords are operating with impunity here. The fact is that they are now so wealthy and so powerful that they are probably untouchable. Isn't that sad?

TOO MANY QUESTIONS

 

As of at the end of January 14th there were 3,256 reported COVID 19 deaths in Trinidad & Tobago. This figure suggests that far from doing a good job in fighting the pandemic, the Government is failing miserably. But (and it is a big "but") the question arises: how many of those deaths were COVID related as opposed to the victims dying from some other comorbidity? In other words, were all these 3,256 deaths caused exclusively by COVID or did the victims suffer from something else that actually killed them, e.g., heart disease, but they had tested positive for COVID?

I have no evidence that this is the case, but rather suspect that this suspicion is accurate. Assuming (though not accepting) that the suspicion is correct that they were not killed by the virus, the next question that arises is why would the Government authority lie? Because it is a lie. If a person is killed by a heart attack but tests positive for COVID that is very different from somebody being killed by the virus. So? Then the next question (whether the suspicion is accurate or not) is how many reported deaths from COVID also include comorbidities (such as heart disease)? And what is the true figure on COVID deaths (i.e., deaths caused by COVID)?

I can come up with half a dozen or more reasons why the authorities (let's not say the Government who is being fed the information by their authorities) would lie about this, but any or all of them would be very true or very inaccurate (take your pick). But it is clear that we are simply not getting a full picture. Why not? And who would be ultimately responsible for this? Because somebody has to be responsible for this.

Everybody has his/her own biases, but these questions deserve answers one way or the other. It is not good enough simply to accuse the questions of demonstrating bias, but it is necessary in a properly functioning democracy to answer them. Failure to do so invariably leads to what I call "not a damn dog bark" syndrome. Democracy cannot flourish when the hard (as well as the easy) questions are not answered. And the continuing failure by our leaders in Government not to answer them directly or to answer with (rather obvious) obfuscations simply causes most unnecessary distrust. And that ain't good for anybody. The truth will come out sooner or later. And it is clear that we are not being told the truth. And if we are being lied to, when will we know when a statement is true?

THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT TELLING THE TRUTH

The Government is on a head on collision with the trade unions over whether or not it can tell unvaccinated workers not to come to work next week. The truth is that the government is probably right that unvaccinated workers should not be allowed in the work place. The problem is that the Prime Minister and the all important Minister of Health have long ago used up whatever credibility that they had on this issue (as well as on other issues) by not telling the truth when they could have or should have. The fact is that now only the very gullible PNM supporter will accept anything falling from their mouths, even if what they are saying is probably correct. But on the other side of the coin the stance of the unions is also probably just  as right. But the unions also have something of a credibility problem. So? What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? WE are the ones who will have to give!

But the Government continues to believe that leadership is simply telling the people what to do as opposed to persuading them to their point of view. It may be too late to change people's minds about the credibility of the Government but the issue of whether to ban unvaccinated workers or not is way too important to be like the Pharisee who gets rid of his sins by throwing his hands in the air and crying "korban". So  perhaps the best way forward is to find a scientist like the American Dr. Fauci who can and will talk to us  the way that Fauci has spoken to the American people and who will tell us with great frankness (a la Fauci) what exactly has been done wrong, what has been done right, and (perhaps most importantly) what needs to be done NOW to help get us out of this mess.

The fact is that I am not all that interested in the past and what mistakes were made or not made and by whom, as the case my be. I am really desirous of a way forward and even if it is necessary to give up our right to refuse the vaccine (or be allowed to refuse it) then we should get the best possible advice available. And the advice should come from someone that we trust.

We Trinbagonians are pretty darn smart and we have living amongst us people who are just as smart and capable as Dr. Fauci. It is time to stop playing politics with this virus.  I'm not interested in who said what or didn't say what. I'm interested in solving the problem. Please don't waste time in criticizing what has been said here. Instead, (if you can) put that brain of yours to finding a way out of this mess. One solution has been proposed here, but there must be others. We are living now with the consequences of not being told the truth in the first place. Its high time that we are now told the truth about everything!