ON THE SHORT ROAD TO HAITI…

CHILDREN are routinely killed on the streets, kidnappings for ransom are commonplace, and sexual assaults are a daily reality.

That is the chilling life today in Haiti.

There have been more than 2,500 murders for the year, with at least 5,000 missing and presumed dead.

Haiti is riddled with gang warfare, mass street shootings, armed robberies, property theft, and human and cocaine trafficking.

More civilians have died in Haiti than in Ukraine in the first seven months of 2023, according to the United Nations.

“A paradise for criminal gangs,” is how the Caricom country is being termed by the international media.

The UN and other global bodies tell of “a harrowing humanitarian catastrophe.”

By the way, Caricom was all bleeding heart during its recent conference in Trinidad and Tobago – a talkfest that cost taxpayers $20 million – but has not lifted a finger to assist a country in the midst of a bloody civil war.

Kenya – 76,000 miles away! – is putting together multinational troops to save Haiti, in which there is also widespread hunger, diseases, and infant child deaths.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wails that Haitians are “trapped in a living nightmare.”   

Haiti famously led the first slave revolt, but there was no offer of support – or even gnashing of teeth – as T&T paraded on Emancipation Day.

Sentimentalist artistes are no longer crooning about a land wrecked by violence, and the media provide only nominal coverage of the crippling disaster.

And then there is Trinidad and Tobago, with one-sixth Haiti’s population and an average daily murder rate of just under two.

Home invasions, random shootings, robberies and brutal assaults are so prevalent that the developed world and global agencies issue dire warnings about visiting these tiny islands.

The police claim a detection rate of 10 per cent, which means that nine out of 10 brutal criminals roam the land, high-powered weapons in hand.

The Police Service has never been more paralysed and ineffective.

There were six killings within hours at Scorpion Alley, Carenage, a small community bound by Western Main Road and the wide ocean – but no arrests.

Kelly Village, Cunupia, and neighbouring communities are literally in the middle of Trinidad, and yet killers mow down citizens – including an on-duty security officer last week – and escape the law.

The traumatised nation is witnessing the vicious murders of senior citizens, ambitious business owners, partygoers, and more, amid the cold detachment of the authorities.

Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley led his party to just 14 per cent of the national vote last week and then headed off to a weekend of golf, aware that he would face only muted criticisms.

Many were outraged at a contentious remedy proposed by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar – and UNC dissidents got wings – but there is only blank silence from the authorities.

In all of this, Joanne Archie, described as the public relations officer of the police service, offers the most crushing indictment of her law enforcement agency.

“Secure the service of a reputable security company,” Archie concedes.

Trinidad and Tobago is desperately racing along the Haitian road, as crime shatters civil society, leading thousands to seek the exit door.

As with our Caricom neighbour, there is no resolve, sustained drive, or concerted action to save a one-time paradise.