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el Cerro del Aripo



Sunday evening posts are probably the hardest, what happened today that could be of such interest? Sunday lunch, visiting familia, babysitting duties, buying papers? How about all of the above, it was a great Sunday. We had our third eldest gran, the others had headed off to other parts leaving the 'Charlo' with the grandparents. We are very fortunate to have all of our children and grandchildren here within fifteen minutes of each other. We know of other people who have grans living in Alaska and Australia, we are truly lucky!

We are now rated as the fourth highest country in the world at 43 murders per 100,000 population. How in God's name did we reach here? This is not an estimate this is very real. We are the murder capital of the Caribbean islands. Better than all others in the island chain, we are now ahead of Jamaica who ruled the roost for a number of years.
Can we put things into perspective? We are a population of 1.3 million people, we are an island nation of 5,128 sq km with our highest point El Cerro del Aripo at 940 mtrs.
Why is this? Surely we know who the people are who are bringing in the arms, bringing in the drugs, the PMOTT was appraised of the 150 illegal ports of entry recently, have any of these ports been shut down? Is the Coast Guard out and about constantly at sea patrolling the sovereign waters? Based on credible information this is not so, it seems we are waiting on newer vessels. Where is our Customs and Excise Div. we have not heard a peep from them, our Immigration Div. it seems that the (decorative?) kiosks at Piarco are more important than manning our borders?
The security of our country is in serious jeopardy and not a single national security agency seems to be interested in protecting our borders. We do not manufacture arms on the Rock, every gun is imported and the existing border protection agencies are incapable of securing our sovereignty.
We have not heard a single word from the Comptroller of Customs, this is a position created by the  Crown with unlimited powers, this position reports to no one. The line of authority with the Colonial power was Governor General, AG and the Comptroller of Customs, this was the guy who created the wealth for the Crown. It is still the same position today, ask anyone in Government who the Comptroller reports to and you will get a reply likened to the 'Galleons Passage'. Could be, would be and maybe!aRIPO

The crime situation can be dealt with as soon as and whenever the agencies are up to it. If the status quo continues then we will still be ranked in the top five. We can shut the criminal gangs down in the morning. Of course, that means upsetting and creating situations that politically may be too close to home but it can be done. In 2011 I personally handed a list of every known drug block in my constituency of Chaguanas East, (17) in all, to a Dep. Commissioner of Police at his home in St. Mary's Junction, sitting in his verandah. I did this on three occasions, to the then Minister of National Security and to the Commissioners of Police. Zip all was done, why? It would seem that there was something else that was far more important than shutting down drug blocks!

Crime is the major issue. There is no other situation that involves the population like crime. Deal with it, full stop! We welcome a Commissioner of Police not from a 'batch'. This may be the answer to our problem. Time will tell!

People of the Rock, keep the faith, if you have, good night and good luck!





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