‘Today it is a migrant child who was killed. Tomorrow it can be one of your own children, take note… We want to protect our porous borders, yes. But we have never said that we should shoot at women and babies in order to do so.’ – Kamla Persad-Bissessar
By Sue-Ann Wayow
CITIZENS need to be concerned about the killing of an innocent baby at sea.
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is maintaining that the shooting of one-year-old Ya Elvis Santoyo was not merely an accident as stated by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and she again called for a full and transparent investigation into the matter.
She was speaking during the United National Congress (UNC) virtual report on Monday night.
Persad-Bissessar also defended herself against those who are saying she has been attacking the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard (TTCG), adding that she will not be silenced on the matter.
She said, “The haters say Kamla is at fault because Kamla attacked the coast guard. Who from the coast guard want to take basket from Rowley can go ahead.
“The person responsible for killing that baby is the only one who has to answer for it. You have to be very unintelligent to believe I was blaming the entire coastguard for it. Such juvenile spin from the PNM and their cohorts is the normal course. They cannot answer the argument so they attack the messenger, attack the critic.”
She also said that international media has latched on to the story because it was not normal or standard procedure to be firing at a pirogue with women and children.
The opposition leader said there were some who think that because the incident involved a migrant child it did not matter but many of them are the same people who go to America, Canada, Europe and hide and apply for refugee status.
She said, “Everyone here has family who has done this. This hypocrisy on this killing is s disgusting. People who have hate in your hearts will always live in misery and pain. If the government is allowed to remain unaccountable when migrant infants are killed without explanation then they will do it to our own citizens and we saw the examples.
“Today it is a migrant child who was killed. Tomorrow it can be one of your own children, take note… We want to protect our porous borders, yes. But we have never said that we should shoot at women and babies in order to do so.”
It was Dr Rowley’s incompetence in keeping the borders safe that led to that incident, she added.
And Persad-Bissessar also sent a message to the Venezuelan migrant population.
“Tonight, I want to tell the Venezuelan migrants, I understand how you feel, I was in your position once when I was only 16 years old in England. I was also discriminated against and treated as a lesser human being. The UNC and I will stand up for you because I know the hell that you all are going through.”
