The Procrastinator’s Library By Kerwin Eloise

The Caribbean has long been the plaything of others, especially its waters.  The resurgence of gung-ho American hegemony and so-called freedom fighting resurgence brought about by president trump and his pursuit of the alleged narco state in Venezuela and its alleged trans-shipment of drugs is concerning.

The continued ignorance of due process of the law and a lack of evidence illustrating that those murdered were narco terrorists rather than fisherfolk or economic migrants is alarming on its face.

Whilst CARICOM has made some soft, almost perfunctory noises about what has happened we must ask: Whose waters are these?

By whose authority has the United States decided to become judge, jury and executioner in the region?

Sponsored | Article continues below

Does CARICOM have the cojones to demand that Washington stop endangering our citizens on its Don Quixotic quest to rid the world of its hunger for drugs.

A nation which once provided security for Afghan poppy fields, the plant from which opium and thus morphine, codeine and heroin are derived has now developed a pseudo morality to impose on the rest of the world.

There is also the question of why not plug the source. American society has long ignored their role in the supply chain, their easy access to drugs, the overpolicing of addicts and the criminalization of drugs to an absurd degree have all played a part in how cyclical the drug trade is.

There is also the question of where does this stop?

Sponsored | Article continues below

Will fisher boats adrift be at risk because of the gung-ho attitudes of the current American regime?

Are we no longer an equal partner in their ‘War on Drugs’?

Do we have to now be worried that ships in our ports will be labelled as drug carriers and be targeted as well?

Or for our port infrastructure to be victims when we no longer support American  Intrusion?

Sponsored | Article continues below

As hinted at earlier we have had no definitive proof that the persons killed by U.S drone strikes are who they say they are. What happens when one of the many tales of adrift fisherfolk ends in tragedy.

Not because lives were lost due to negligence but due to the inadvertent actions of a military strike that has cared not one wit to determine whether the boats are carrying drugs, contraband or economic migrants escaping the shattered state of Venezuela.

And if such a reality was to be realized, what can we do?

Whilst Kamala Persad-Bissesar has been vocal in ‘loading the matic’ and supportive of the droning of boats, although we have not heard if the Trinidadian people support her cavalier attitude, we have not heard yet from many of the CARICOM heads of government. Including our very own Philip J. Pierre.

Sponsored | Article continues below

Are they being transparent with us about American actions within our waters and our boundaries? Are American actions being undertaken on a need-to-know basis with the consequence and understanding that the public doesn’t need to know?

Perhaps the general silence emitting from even the most opportunistic of opposition politicians has to beg the question whether we are tiptoeing on eggshells in order to not upset our big bad neighbor to the north lest we suffer similar interventionist fates like Haiti. We know that many times we are placed in tight positions when it comes to dealing with America and its desires and a sense of grace must be extended to our governments.

But for how long and to what ends is a question that cannot be answered until we determine whose waters are these?

Because it is most undoubtedly in dispute as to who its masters are.

Sponsored | Article continues below