Kidnapping more revelant, not Haiti

THE EDITOR: It is ironic that deposed Haitian leader Aristide was snatched from the jaws of death, and  Caricom’s Security General Patrick Manning and the talk shop members are more concerned about an investigation into the “manner he was forced to leave the country.” How will this help Aristide now? Caricom should be glad that Aristide was abducted  and flown to safety. The images of the looting and the arnachy were not pretty to watch and not even the works of art in the presidential palace were spared by the savage mobs. I shudder to think what would have been Aristide and his wife’s fate if they has stayed to face the inevitable. It is conceivable that they may have been ripped apart and strung up. As it is, the former president was spared with a little help.

Manning especially must be concerned that a democratically-elected leader who chose to rule undemocratically could be ousted from grace by the wrath of the people. His subconcious guilt must be sending voodoo chills up his spine. Since Manning’s regime came to power in late 2001 the kidnapping scourge in his country has evolved rapidly and scores of people have fallen victim. Some have paid with their lives. Manning never cared to do anything to stop or hinder the kidnappers in Trinidad. He and his regime silently backed a calypsonian whose cry was “kidnap them!”  He went so far as to say that kidnapping does not affect him. Now that a neighbouring leader has been overthrown he is fearfully concerned, no doubt forseeing a similar fate if he persists along his path of discrimination and incompetence. Whoever abducted Aristide did not demand a ransom and they spirited him to a new beginning with his life and limbs intact. The kidnapped victims in Trinidad were not so fortunate.

BIANCA JAGGERNAUTH
San Fernando