Caption: Merle Hodge

RETIRED University of the West Indies lecturer and author Merle Hodge has lashed out at Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for statements she made in support of the US bombing of alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.

Below is the full text of an open letter Hodge wrote to Persad-Bissessar:

My sister,

Congratulations on your victory at the polls. I was alarmed, however, and disappointed, to hear your rather bloodthirsty rallying-cry at the beginning of your new term: “Yes! Kill them violently!”

This is language that does not become a person of your calibre, even if you are sure that the nameless people in the little boats are guilty as assumed, post mortem, of drug trafficking and terrorism.

Has Trinidad and Tobago done its own investigations and come up with guilty verdicts all around?

The tally of people killed while sailing in open boats in the Caribbean Sea is rising (27 as of October 14 th ) and, the issue is gaining more attention from the US media.

The issue is process. These people are being executed without trial – without even identification. Can we expect, during your tenure, to see this kind of justice dispensed within our country?

Why can’t these suspects be approached in the water, with small boats speedier than theirs, rather than this blasting them from on high (as in declared warfare between countries) with no investigation whatsoever?

So, what happens, now, to the fishing industry in the southern Caribbean? Do our fisherfolk have to hang up their boats and fishing gear or run the risk of being blown up in our sea, by the US military, backed, with enthusiasm, by our government? Let us not be led by the nose.

Respectfully

Merle Hodge