Trinidad Is My Land....

Judging by the comments today from readers of online newspapers as they responded to the articles about the lack of evidence to lay charges, and the likelihood that all sixteen or so alleged "plotters" would be released, I expect that there will be much jubilation across the land tonight.

Brer "I-told-you-so!", Compere "Do-So-eh-like-SoE!" and Macomere "Dem-people-could-lie!" will be crowing from the rooftops. Back in the welcoming comfort of their homes, the accused and their families will embrace and laugh and maybe cry with relief [or anger] and some will begin planning to schedule more appointments with their lawyers.

I was sceptical about this alleged assassination plot from the beginning and as I patiently awaited the evidence that would support the claims and justify putting people through the humiliation and trauma of character assassination, arrest and imprisonment without irrefutable evidence, I realised that my focus was changing. I was less and less interested in the immediate fact of this government's culpability or innocence and more concerned about what sense my country would make of this event to be able to move on from here. How would this most recent event propel us towards achieving a more honest and meaningful partnership with the government that we employ?

The evidence that we were promised never came and also making its non-appearance in my case was any feeling of vindication or victory. Apart from sharing the relief of those who have escaped their prison cells tonight, I can think of absolutely nothing about which we should be jubilant.

Unless we see ourselves as somehow being way above the following...

"The US Senate voted [last] Thursday night to approve a military funding bill that codifies into law the criminal state practices begun under Bush—and continued under Obama—in the name of the “global war on terror....It explicitly authorizes the military’s indefinite detention without trial of American citizens and mandates that all non-citizens charged as terrorists—including those arrested on US soil—be detained indefinitely by the military rather than brought to trial in a civilian court."

"The legislation was part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides $662 billion to finance the US military machine and its multiple wars abroad. The act passed the Democratic-controlled body by an overwhelming margin of 93 to 7, underscoring once again that there exists no serious constituency for the defense of democratic rights within any section of the American ruling elite or its two big business parties.

"Thrown out by this legislation is the right guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution for all those accused of a criminal offense to a “speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury,” and the core provision of the Fifth Amendment declaring that no person shall be deprived of liberty “without due process of law.” It legalizes the abrogation in practice over the past decade of the bedrock principle of habeas corpus, which requires that the state bring a detained individual before an independent court and show just cause for imprisonment."....Read more at SOURCE

Whether or not the government continues to argue that their arrests were justified, I am just grateful that the law prevailed and that over the weekend our Prime Minister stated that "government cannot and should not get involved" in that process.

And as populations increasingly realise or feel that their voices are not being heard, the protests and the violence will escalate. As we end our State of Emergency tonight, you may be interested to know that on Sunday to the southwest, the Peruvian president Ollanta Humala introduced a state of emergency in the provinces of Cajamarca, Celendin, Hualgayoc and Contumaza.

"Peru's President Ollanta Humala has declared a state of emergency in a northern region that has seen bitter protests against a gold mine project.

Mr Humala said the measure would last 60 days and allow security forces to restore public services shut by rallies and marches against the mine.

US firm Newmont halted work on the huge $4.8bn (£3.1bn) open-cast mine last week after protesters were injured.

Those against the project say it will destroy local water supplies.

Protests against the proposed mine have been escalating and have seen sabotage of machinery and clashes with the police.

"Using my constitutional powers, I introduce a state of emergency in the provinces of Cajamarca, Celendin, Hualgayoc and Contumaza," President Humala said. SOURCE

My musings tonight are cold comfort for those who have had to endure arrest and detention and the uncertainty of what might ensue, for their bewildered and hurt families and the communities to which some belong and which were also stung by the allegations, but I need to keep the faith.

Without it there would be little reason to persist.

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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare