THE EDITOR: Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar's statement that the TT Coast Guard murdered a baby is beyond belief. This is nasty politics at its worst.
The loss of any life is unfortunate. However, the Coast Guard has a mandate to protect our borders. Venezuelan leaders know the risks their civilians take to come illegally to our country. So do people like Yesenia Gonzalez, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and religious bodies.
Where was Gonzalez's voice when dozens of Venezuelans drowned while on their way to TT?
On April 24, 2019, 22 Venezuelan migrants, mostly women, drowned en route to TT. On December 7, 2020, 31 migrants, including children, drowned, and on April 25, 2021, ten migrants, including children, died when their boat capsized.
Not a word was heard from Yesenia Gonzalez on these tragedies. Suddenly her voice is being heard very clearly over the unfortunate death of the migrant baby.
If the people on that boat were coming here legally the person driving the boat would have stopped when commanded by the Coast Guard and the baby would be alive today. No amount of noise-making can change that fact.
Most unsettling in all of this are the threats now being directed to members of the Coast Guard for doing their jobs. Does it mean they should now turn a blind eye and let anyone enter our borders by sea?
We forget that when Persad-Bissessar was Prime Minister she oversaw the dismantling of the country's national security apparatus. The fallout from that we are still experiencing today.
LINUS F DIDIER
Mt Hope
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