I am horrified though, that our present PNM government has clearly sanctioned Trinidad and Tobago as the 51st American state. Doubt me? Maybe the following will help - it refers to the extradition of the alleged killers of US citizen Balram Maharaj on Trinidadian soil, by Trinidadians - for trial in the US.
T&T turned into colony of the US
Several years ago a senior official of the then government in power signed an agreement which has now led to citizens of this country being extradited to the US to be tried for alleged crimes committed within the jurisdiction of T&T.
It has now turned T&T into a US colony. We are no longer emancipated or masters of our own destiny.
The same people who protest loudly that we should abolish the Privy Council are the same people who see no problem in seriously compromising our independence.
One can understand that a non-citizen is entitled to be extradited to the state in which he is accused of committing a crime, but to extradite a citizen who is alleged to have committed a crime in his own country to a foreign country for trial is not only ludicrous but clearly obscene.
The International Court of Justice is another matter as this is governed by a consensus of international laws passed by the UN and even several nations including the US refuse to submit to its jurisdiction. But T&T, acting like a bunch of cowards, submits to the demands of that neo-fascists state. How low can we go?
M Hotin
St James
So what is your opinion? Are we the 51st State?
