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Over 48 hours (10-11 January), Trinidad and Tobago has acted in a manner that sends mixed signals in its relations with Venezuela and its elected Government.
On Thursday, a resolution which denied and denounced the legitimacy of the elected President and Government of Venezuela was passed at a Special Meeting of the Organisation of American States (OAS) Permanent Council. It called on member-states to take ‘diplomatic, political, economic and financial measures ….to contribute to the prompt restoration of the democratic order of Venezuela’. The resolution was passed by a vote of 19 for – 6 against and 8 abstentions. The abstaining countries included T&T. Having neither supported nor opposed the resolution, T&T attended the inauguration of President Maduro for his second term of office and was represented by Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, Dennis Moses. CARICOM DIVIDED Once again CARICOM presented a disunited face as Jamaica, St Lucia, Haiti, Bahamas, and Guyana voted in favour, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname voted against while Trinidad and Tobago, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, and Belize abstained. This resolution follows another passed in June 2018 which was widely viewed as an attempt to pave the way for intervention (possibly military) with the objective of imposing ‘regime change’ in Venezuela. The resolution passed on Thursday is a continuation of this interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela. Except for Guyana which has had a long-standing dispute with Venezuela over territorial border matters, the rest of the Caribbean countries have had good neighbourly relations with it based on rmutual benefit and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. This is how the relations among sovereign states should be conducted and maintained. It is disappointing that CARICOM countries have allowed themselves to become divided in the OAS and its hostile stand against the elected Venezuelan leader and Government championed by the US. The position stated by St Vincent and the Grenadines must be congratulated. Their representative said: “The OAS has to be careful because it may be viewed as an entity which any opposition party can manipulate as a tool in its campaign to enter office, whether by the ballot box and other means which appear to be questionable.”. This is consistent with that country’s opposition to the June 2018 resolution of the OAS. T&T Must Be Consistent T&T appears position, however, appears to be inconsistent. How can a state abstain from voting on such a resolution one day and then, the next day send a senior Cabinet member as its representative to the inauguration which the resolution opposed? The Communications Minister told the world that TT was attending the Venezuelan President’s inauguration because we are very close neighbours and we do not meddle in the internal affairs of that country. That is a laudable statement. Opposition of the meddling OAS resolution would have been consistent with such a position. But instead T&T abstained. Countries, like individuals, must act in a manner which demonstrate that their word and deed are one. And T&T must be like that. In the case of Grenada in the 1980’s and the brutal US intervention to impose regime change there, this country was consistent in its word and deed and refused to participate in that military adventure of a big power. The world has long recognised that the relations among states, big or small, must be based on mutual respect for the sovereignty of each country; respect for the right of the people of all states to determine their own political systems; adherence to non-interference in each other’s internal affairs and working together for the resolution of problems affecting mankind, for peace, mutually beneficial trade and solving problems of environmental degradation and climate change. This country had established a record of acting on this principled basis. We must continue to do so. Clyde Weatherhead A Citizen Fighting for the Nation-building Project in T&T 12 January 2019 As 2018 draws to a close, as is customary, reviews and assessments of the year that was are being done. Like the characters in Sing a Song of Sixpence, different roles and perspectives inform the look back.
Those in the counting houses are counting the bottom-line of the year’s transactions. Those in the palace frame of mind are pondering how much milk and honey they extracted from their parlours of power and privilege. Those in the garden will be recounting their plight and how many had their noses pecked off by those blackbirds controlling industry and commerce. The media houses, like the teller of the tale, are preparing their 2018 – News Reviews, Big Stories, etc. WE MUST LEARN FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF 2018 How ever and from wherever one looks, the last 12 months have been a year full of events, good and bad, presenting our society with dangers as well as opportunities. The year most certainly cannot be described as dull, unremarkable or uninteresting. In a year in which the first headlines screamed “Bloody Start” and “5 Killed on Day 1”, from the bloodiest month to year-end, with this country recording its 2nd highest ever murder toll, it cannot be said that the outcome is all positive. Nor can we celebrate the thousands now out of jobs at major state enterprises, educational institutions and elsewhere or those facing the threat of job loss. Nor will those still counting their losses from disasters, natural and man-mad, be brimming with merriment as we cross into 2019. The announcement of modest profit at CAL, of oversubscribed bond issues and prospects of fortune and jobs from projects in various stages of gestation will not motivate the singing of any song of sixpence. And while we mourn the passing of many of our chantuelles of our collective spirit and resilience, we celebrate their time with us and what they have done and left for our upliftment and encouragement. In the twilight hours of 2018, fundamental issues remain to be resolved in our economic management and planning, of our environmental and water management practices, of our strengthening of our governance systems to empower the majority and guarantee the needs of all, of our organising to guarantee the safety and security of all, or displacing the atmosphere of anxiety, fear and desperation which pervade. What we can celebrate is the social response to crisis in whatever form, the caring humanity that is not lost despite the negative pressure of an anti-social agenda seeking to place private-right above public-right, individual or narrow self-serving goals above collective benefit, hate and intolerance instead of unity and material abundance as consumerism above the freeing up of human capacity. We must enter 2019 with the objective of addressing every problem with opening the road to progress of our society at the forefront. MOVING FORWARD IN 2019 The usurpation of procurement by Cabinet, the unfinished business of appointing top officers of the TTPS or the resolution of the relationship between Tobago and Trinidad or the lingering cloud of allegations against the top judicial officer and concentration of authority in fewer hands within Cabinet, the failure to reconfigure the economy to achieve sustainability – these are all cause for serious concern. In 2019, achieving significant advance in the economic, political, social, cultural, Environmental and International spheres must occupy our attention and actions. This is a year in which the politicians are gearing up for 3 significant elections enthused by the election cycle syndrome, focused on retaining or gaining office while the concerns of the people are relegated to unimportance. Moving forward for the majority of the society means achieving solution to the problems and issues that require it. Some matters of immediate concern include:
What we need is a pro-social agenda and action by the people, progress in the direction favourable to sorting out their real concerns and advancing the nation-building project in this 57th year of Independence. Otherwise 2019 will pass without a new atmosphere of hope, confidence in the future and release of the creative energies of every individual and collective of human beings in our society. We, the people, must remain vigilant and take initiatives in our interest and that of the nation. Clyde Weatherhead A Citizen fighting for Democratic Renewal and Progress for Our Society 29 December 2018 Recounting 2018 January
February
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December
 Community Green Space Gone  Construction of building over Drain In the midst of the Christmas season, we have been reminded in chilling fashion about why so many are filled with fear and anxiety rather than the merriment which we associate with this time.
With a sense of remorse and vulnerability, we are now aware that the violent criminality terrorising our lives has claimed the second highest annual murder toll in our country’s history, and with 8 days of 2018 still ahead. More and more we withdraw from social activity and seek refuge in our homes, our living space. The phenomenon, labelled Home Invasion renders even our very family abode no safe place. The episodes of powerfully armed intruders inflicting the most horrific brutality on old and young, are too often played out. There was a time, too, that not only our homes, but, our communities were safe-havens from unsolicited intrusion. This Christmas, though, our community, the area demarcated as residential on one side of the borderline Trincity Central Road separating our living space from the commercial zone opposite is for again invaded by the business interests. In an apparent attempt to ‘catch the Christmas sales, the fast food franchise-holders, have hastily attempted to complete construction of a Prestige-ous fast-food complex on the green space adjacent to the roundabout on the Central Road which bore a sign until their advent that read – Health Centre.The merchants of items of questionable health benefit now occupying the very spot on Home Construction Ltd’s plans designated for a health facility. The space was up to only recently a green space used by residents, taxi drivers of the H or PH variety and most recently even visitors as a place of relaxation, recreation and community interaction. THE SAGA Within hours after what was described as a consultation meeting called on an evening which made it difficult for even those who were aware to attend, a galvanised fence was erected around the grassy space. This was so sudden that even people living on the other side of the Boulevard which borders it were shocked when the fence appeared. This is the second attempt to usurp that space for commercial purpose. A previous attempt only a couple of years earlier was halted when residents objected during a consultative process which at least appeared genuine. In this case, those who already own KFC, Pizza Hut, et al in the largest mall in the Caribbean just across the borderline, held a meeting with about 15 people present, 10 of whom were from the franchise-holder outfit on the very green space about 2 weeks before the other mentioned above. Not only are these fast-food outlets already located in the Trincity Mall, but a second large mall is under construction further up the Central Road, on the spot where a Family Court was proposed. So, residents, victims of this invasion of our community’s living space, who had earlier objected to the sudden arrival of a caravan of food trucks within the very space, who can we turn to for protection? Well, the Presige-ous spokesmen made it clear that this drive-through complex, constructed over the major drain preventing flooding in Rowland Avenue and with its exit and entrance less than 100 metres away from a heavily-used roundabout was being erected with approval of the Planning Ministry and Traffic Management. So, we, the residents can scarcely complain to our very busy MP who happens to be the Planning Minister. Nor can we turn to her immediate predecessor who led the campaign against the Family Court, but, is silent when a second huge mall is going up a recreation ground away from the 2 secondary schools in our community. It may or may not be of significance that this fast-food complex and the other commercial building further North on the residential side borderline Central Road, as well as the second mall opposite it are all owned by those who announced themselves to the world to be ‘the 1%’. The food trucks were relocated after objection by residents. But, it appears that the Regional Corporation and the Councillor who also incidentally share party affiliation with the MP, only used the residents conveniently to facilitate the Prestige-ous business interests. Unlike the victims of home invasion, we cannot call on GG to halt this community invasion which is inflicted upon us, because this incursion carries with it, the veneer of ‘lawfulness’. Clyde Weatherhead A Citizen Fighting for Community Right 22 December 2018 |
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