Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 30/Oct 10:56

Desperate times call for decisive action

THE EDITOR: The presence of US warships in our waters, with one docked in Port of Spain, has sparked a no-to-war narrative and concern overdue process, as drug boats are being destroyed by the US in what it describes as efforts to protect its people and the wider region from the scourge of the drug trade. The Antilles Episcopal Conference has since issued a strongly worded letter condemning these actions and calling for peace. In this Jubilee Year of Hope, isn’t this what we have been praying for over the decades? Since childhood I have witnessed countless calls for an end to gang violence and the destruction of families caused by the drug trade. Prayer retreats, peace marches, and conferences have long pleaded for unity against this evil. Now that something is finally being done, perhaps the very answer to those prayers, why are we suddenly hesitant? Our scriptures and histories are filled with examples of righteous struggles against evil, battles that followed reflection and prayer. The notion that the Caribbean is a “zone of peace” is, at best, a misnomer. In truth, it has become a zone of wilful blindness, a place where we see, hear, and speak no evil, even as we live daily with its effects. Worse still, many choose silence over truth, complicit in inaction. There is a fourth monkey, after all: do no evil. As Edmund Burke reminds us, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” We have long seen and heard of the drug trade, yet when we speak, it is in tones so measured that nothing changes. We fear upsetting the status quo rather than rallying people to meaningful, decisive action against what we know to be open secrets. In June 2014, during the 31st International Drug Enforcement Conference in Rome, over 100 senior law enforcement officials were received by Pope Francis. He declared: “Drug addiction is an evil. And with evil, there can be no yielding or compromise.” His message was unequivocal – legalisation is not the answer. Prevention, education, opportunity, and justice are. He reminded the world not to confuse compassion with compromise: “We cannot ignore the evil intentions and actions of drug dealers and traffickers. They are murderers.” In December 2019 a pastor walked into the Central Bank with over $28 million in old $100 bills, claiming they were tithes. In 2023, he was committed to stand trial for money laundering. Over the years, even the church has not been immune to accusations of receiving drug-related funds. The Vatican has repeatedly condemned such practices. When the late Bishop Ramón Godínez Flores of Aguascalientes suggested that “all money can be transformed,” the church swiftly disavowed him. My concern is that the be-careful-do nothing crowd, those who once prayed and marched for change, have become useful idiots for the powerful interests profiting from the drug trade, whether politically or financially. Fearmongering has become their new gospel. The USS Gravely’s presence sends a strong signal to the narco-terrorists that our region is no longer undefended, that we now stand under the watchful eyes of the US, a far cry from our own complacency. For the moment, the Gulf of Paria is quiet, monitored from above by many “eyes in the sky.” Our nation must free itself from the stranglehold of the narco economy. Love him or hate him, US President Donald Trump demonstraes that peace can come through strength. As Miyamoto Musashi said, “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war.” Many Caribbean leaders who once pleaded for action against the drug trade now call for dialogue. But with whom, and to what end? How does one negotiate with those who corrupt, kill, and destroy without remorse, those who would rather die than walk away from their blood money? Those who understand that their own loved ones are not protected from retribution should they step out of line? For too long, our region has been burying its mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters, victims of a trade built on death, destruction, and despair. These are desperate times, and desperate times call for decisive action. JAMES B SOLOMON Carenage The post Desperate times call for decisive action appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.