Many opinions have been expressed with regards to soldiers being given authority to arrest people. Some say soldiers are trained to kill and they do not have investigative skills, and that they are to protect the country from external invasion.
I want to say that these are all pre-colonial mutterings and are totally without merit in this era of world diplomacy, and that soldiers are not pre-programmed robots as, in addition to their current abilities, they can have the necessary training which would enable them to be quite effective in the enforcement of law and order.
Which country would be most likely to invade T&T and would our soldiers be adequate to prevent or withstand such invasion? Clearly we still cling to fairy tales. Between the soldiers and the police, up to this point, who is doing the most killings? There is an urgent need to improve the security of citizens not from outside invasion, but from local criminals and thieves and crooks born and bred right here, and two areas that must imperatively be improved is our coast guard and our police force.
There is absolutely no justification to continue with soldiers at Chaguaramas.
Ramesh Marajh
Palo Seco