Society
Urban life - Darcus Howe avoids his homeland
Published 17 October 2005
I don't need the Foreign Office to warn me of a crime wave in Trinidad and Tobago
I phoned the Foreign and Commonwealth Office seeking advice on whether I should travel to Trinidad and Tobago, the land of my birth.
"While most visits there are trouble free," I was told, "you should be aware that violent crime is increasing, especially shootings and kidnappings. British nationals have been victims of recent violent attacks on both islands."
I made the call after reading an article in a Trinidadian newspaper attacking the UK authorities for alerting citizens about the dangers. Readers of the piece were then informed of a stream of incidents - from the London bombings to black-on-black shootings - all intended to illustrate, by contrast, how dangerous the UK is.
The journalist failed to mention that foreign firms operating in Trinidad have warned expatriate staff to avoid going in to the capital, Port of Spain. Even the prime minister, Patrick Manning, admitted to parliament that he was seeking help from Scotland Yard in the fight against crime.
I can add my own testimony to support the FCO's line. A few days ago I received word from my youngest brother that a friend of the family, an elderly woman, had been shot four times. A young man had opened fire with a Glock pistol on another man, who grabbed my mother's friend in order to use her as a shield. She now lies gravely ill in a local hospital.
And here is another: a friend of mine telephoned from Tobago to tell me that her son, aged 15, was on a hit list. He had gone to a ghetto "yard" to buy bullets for his gun and been violently robbed. In the course of the next few hours the "don" of the gang that robbed him had given out the order for him to be executed.
Knowing that I was a long-time acquaintance of the don's father, she pleaded with me to try to have him spare her son's life. Click. Click. I returned the mouthpiece to the cradle.
I need no advice from the Foreign Office to avoid Port of Spain for a while.
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