DOMA lashes ‘reckless’ Cro Cro

THE DOWNTOWN Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) yesterday expressed its disappointment over the 2004 offering from Cro Cro, “Face Reality.” In a critical two-page release, the association said the calypso did nothing to improve the “division, suspicion, polarity and worsening international reputation” which this country is currently experiencing. It said it was particularly offended by the “reckless endangerment caused by the unsubstantiated allegation about ‘all those store-owners who bringing drugs in their cloth containers,’ since it is too specific for us to pretend that we do not understand the danger created for our members and the thousands of store-owners throughout TT.”

Doma said “falsehood of this rubbish flies in the face of the reality that after 25 years of container operations in TT, the examination of multitudes of cloth containers by hundreds of Customs Officers and thousands of man hours of hard work by decent store-owners, no incident involving drugs in cloth containers has ever been detected.” They lamented that if Cro Cro wanted to face reality, “store-owners are among the hardest working, industrious and entrepreneurial of our citizens.” The association said while they did not have the right to ask that the song be “banned,” it had a right to complain about “this or any action that we feel is detrimental to the well being of TT.” They observed that Cro Cro appeared to be in a “mood for vengeance and is encouraging his ‘friends’ to do the same,” in the form of kidnapping. DOMA said it had already gotten calls asking if there are attempts to incite a new round of kidnapping.

DOMA added that Cro Cro may have underestimated the fear and terror that kidnapping has created, and it seems that it was now acceptable for “citizens to decide who is guilty of drug or corruption offences, and then inflict the greatest emotional torture possible, by abducting their children.” They said in wanting to spin a vindictive tale of “hate for hate,” Cro Cro may be guilty of peddling the same poison that he is complaining about. However, the association found solace in the fact that among the positive renditions, “we feel that it is safe to say that the piece in question will not survive after this season is over.”