“[…] This hospitality continues even as our economy faces significant challenges that have affected all our people… “[…] Even developed nations with far greater resources face major challenges dealing with crossings of their borders, and no nation accepts non-nationals without due process…” The following statement on the government response to …
Read More »Demming: If we don’t address shortcomings, Venezuelan crisis will lead to harrowing disaster
Our history records Trinidad and Tobago’s fisherfolk dodging bullets from or being arrested by Venezuela’s Guardia Nacional for supposedly being in Venezuelan waters. Today we continue to metaphorically dodge different kinds of bullets from our Venezuelan neighbours. For years, the back-and-forth confrontational posturing was a trickle—the fisherfolk dispute, or the …
Read More »Dear Editor: Our treatment of Venezuela migrants will reveal Trinidad and Tobago’s true character
“[…] We should ask ourselves, ‘what would compel a mother to embark on a treacherous and uncertain seven-mile journey with her young child?’ They are human, not faceless migrants/refugees. This simple fact seemed to have been forgotten and disregarded by the authorities…” The following Letter to the Editor on Trinidad …
Read More »‘Charity begins at home!’ PNM NWL defends treatment of Venezuelans, accuses Opposition of ‘political trafficking’
“[…] Charity begins at home and regardless of our race, religion or political persuasion, we must love this island we call home, more than any hidden corrupt political agenda. “[…] Only persons void of vision and completely driven by a cultic obsession for power will suggest that the government should …
Read More »US ambassador: Maduro responsible for Venezuelan crisis, not sanctions!
“[…] It is [Nicholás] Maduro and his backers, not sanctions, who are to blame for the millions of Venezuelans living in dire economic conditions and who have fled their homes since he assumed power…” The following is a press statement from United States ambassador Joseph N Mondello on the Venezuela …
Read More »NJAC Rededication: Women and youth empowered in 1970s revolution
“[…] The women of 1970 showed great strength in the willing acceptance of their new role and responsibility as part of the movement for a better nation. They stood firm and joined the struggle with men, in pursuit of a better nation for themselves and their children. They came to …
Read More »Daly Bread: The mischief space; the problem with lack of disclosure on Patriotic and DSS
I wrote recently about the startling decision of the government to reject the offer of Patriotic Energies and Technologies Limited (Patriotic) to acquire the Petrotrin oil refinery, which the government closed down. When the titular head of the Ministry of Energy, Senator Franklin Khan, announced the sudden rejection, he gave …
Read More »Vaneisa: Parallels and extremes—how we view domestic violence
I shouldn’t have been surprised by the volume of responses to my last column on domestic violence and sexual abuse. They are obviously prevalent though we can only guess at the extent. Yet it takes a lot of courage for victims to speak out. It isn’t just the accompanying shame …
Read More »Demming: Transforming a ‘toilet’: POS rejuvenation must also address social problems
After 58 years of leadership in both parliamentary and mayoral elections, and 16 or 17 development plans, it has been decreed that the city of Port of Spain will finally be transformed into a shiny new metropolis in north Trinidad. It is a welcomed announcement, but like other similar declarations, …
Read More »Dear Editor: Raising retirement age punitive to workers
“[…] The argument of the bankruptcy of NIS is empty fearmongering to justify their call for decreased liability to meet their workers’ NIS. The fact is NIB money is a pad for government programmes and a bed of questionable projects by NIPDEC. “[…] Many workers stay in the workplace for …
Read More »Vaneisa: One hundred years of abuse; addressing that dirty ‘family secret’
She was born into a Muslim family in 1910, growing up in a compound surrounded by relatives. She would have been around 17 when she was married off and sent to live far away from home. Her chosen husband was cruel, miserly and violent. To deny her direct access to …
Read More »Vaneisa: Mama dis is Kitch; a look at Joseph’s ‘fictional biography’ of calypso icon
The book lay nestled among my collection of Caribbean writing. It came my way after I had run an appreciative review of it by Jarrel De Matas in UWI TODAY (August 2018). Having inserted it among books I’d already read, it got lost until a few weeks ago, when I …
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