Movie Towne story

IT IS no comfort to the peace-loving citizens of Trinidad and Tobago for the Prime Minister to say that Wednesday night's killing at Movie Towne did not affect them, since it was part of an internecine warfare between factions of the same group. The fact is that the modern Movie Towne complex on the western edge of Port-of-Spain has become a very popular centre for entertainment, dining and shopping and it may only be an act of Providence that there were not more victims of the hail of bullets that killed one person and seriously injured two others. 

What this attack at Movie Towne now tells us, in fact, is that the safety of ordinary citizens may be at risk at any public place from gangs of gunmen armed with sophisticated semi-automatic weapons and bent on carrying out assasination missions. It was Movie Towne on Wednesday night, but who knows who will be the next target and where next will the assassins strike? So Mr Manning's attempt to ease the concern of citizens after Wednesday night's cold-blooded killings will not work. While it may be true that these bullet-ridden executions are gang-related, the fact is that they have now become common events, taking the level of violence in our society to a frightening and unacceptable level. We have the terrible experience of some other countries to tell us that where this kind of warfare proceeds unchecked, the entire society comes under increasing threat as gang leaders develop a sense of impunity and seek to expand their "jurisdiction" and their range of "profitable" interests. Trinidad and Tobago may well be on that road and, instead of making such silly comments as ordinary citizens are not affected by the gang-related violence, the Prime Minister must face the responsibility that his government has of halting this growing menace, of dealing with the criminal element, of wiping out the well-armed gangs and preserving the peace and stability of our country.

Mr Manning, we feel sure, must be aware that not only the lives and safety of our citizens are at stake in this battle but the vital interest and future prospects of our developing country are also at risk. The spectacle of armed gunmen blasting away at patrons of such a popular place as Movie Towne, regardless of the fact that they were on a mission of assassination, will not do the image of our country and its investment potential any good. The Prime Minister also seems to be banking on the expectation that when his government's social intervention programmes — we presume he is referring particularly to CEPEP — are expanded, that the escalation in crime will be reversed. While the idea of distributing the wealth of the country more equitably and giving jobs to those who may otherwise turn to a life of crime may have some intrinsic merit, we are not as optimistic since the record of such schemes is a most unfortunate one; indeed, they have been cited as causes for the kind of corruption and violent rivalry that now bedevil our society. We remember, some time ago, senior police officers declaring that they know who are the criminals behind this bloody gang warfare and there were connections with on-going make-work programmes.  Yet the series of anti-crime crackdowns and operations the Police have launched so far do not seem to have had any such specific targets and have not been particularly successful in curbing the incidence of crime or the operations of criminal gangs. The Movie Towne incident also tells us that Police efforts, lacking the kind of strategy and penetration needed, have generally failed. The country's interest is now clearly at risk and our citizens look to the Manning government for more effective action.