View Point

“Citizens of Trinidad and Tobago who are 60 years and older are exempt from paying the airport usage fees, usually called Departure Tax. But a recent instruction to the airlines by the legal department of the Immigration Office has modified this privilege and I think wrongly so. “The airlines have …

“The United States is staging emergency humanitarian assistance in the region in response to Interim President Guiado’s request for aid… “These efforts follow Secretary Pompeo’s January 24, announcement that the United States is ready to provide more than $20 million in initial humanitarian assistance to the people of Venezuela, as …

“[…] I consider it a very dangerous precedent that the Government can so easily take custody of people’s children. If the argument is that the boys need some sort of specialised care that the mother cannot provide, then why won’t they still placed with her and visited by relevant personnel?” …

“It cannot be right that we dutifully pay our bills—plus interest and often at considerable financial sacrifice—for what may be considered essential services in this current era without reciprocal accountability which is not even questioned by the media on most occasions.” The following Letter to the Editor on questionable treatment …

“What I find quite strange, though, is that nearly all every spokesperson and organisation and commentator taking this stance [of non-intervention in Venezuela] are the very same people who, 30 years ago, were equally adamant in calling for the governments of the world to take stern action against the apartheid …

In a move that beats US rapper Kanye West’s 2009 snatching of Taylor Swift’s mic at the VMA, Arthur Lok Jack—the surprise discussant at last Wednesday’s UWI’s event—hijacked what ought to have been a significant national conversation about foreign direct investment. Taking more than thirty minutes, Lok Jack berated the …

“Has [Arthur Lok Jack’s Associated Brands Group of Companies or] ABIL ever supported farmers in Trinidad and Tobago to cultivate and supply sugar for its snacks, corn for its flakes, coconut for its cream filling and shortcake, and rice for its rice crisps? “Has ABIL ever supported farmers in the …

In July 1995 the Bosnia massacre in the town of Srebrenica, took place. Invading Serbian forces killed 8,000 persons in five days—genocide in what was supposed to be a United Nations safe zone, occupied by UN peacekeeping forces. No outside help went in. An All Stars elder and a valued …

“I expect that President Paula Mae Weekes’ call for an overhaul of our education system will be met by something resembling an overhaul—or a series of scripted measures that can be reasonably passed off as one—which stops just short of questioning the purpose of education in the context of a …

“The critical issues for us here in [Trinidad and Tobago] and the region are not how anyone feels about President Nicolás Maduro—based on knowledge, misinformation or ideology—but about fundamental principles in international relations, in particular the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states. “It is vital for …

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago (GTT) behaves as if human rights are an annoyance. Two clear examples are the issue of rights of refugees and the LGBT community’s right to be treated equally under the Equal Opportunity Act 2000 (EOA). Oh, lest I forget, the EOA’s section 3 (interpretation) …

“Notwithstanding efforts by the UNC to undermine Trinidad and Tobago’s position—particularly at this time of sensitive negotiations—Trinidad and Tobago reaffirms its principle positions and counts the USA among its treasured partners in observing and protecting these principles.” The following release on relations between Trinidad and Tobago and the United States, …