Governor Jane Owen has assured Cayman residents and tourists that the Islands remain “safe and secure” despite US intervention in Venezuela to topple president Nicolás Maduro.
Owen said on 5 Jan. that she had been in talks with Premier André Ebanks and also updated the Cabinet.
“I wish to reassure residents and visitors that the Cayman Islands continue to be safe and secure,” she said in a press statement issued early Monday evening.
“As I said in my statement before Christmas, security remains a paramount priority within the United Kingdom’s relationship with its Overseas Territories.
“The UK continues to work in partnership with Caribbean governments across the region to enhance security, prevent crime and stem the flow of drugs, illicit money and irregular migration.
“Those commitments remain unchanged and our agencies here in Cayman continue to pursue strategies with this united objective.”
Aviation safety
Owen said her office was also in “close touch” with the UK government departments responsible for aviation safety and international travel advice.
“The Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands is monitoring and managing traffic in accordance with international regulations and our airports and ports are functioning normally,” Owen said. “Travellers should, as always, check with their airline for the latest fight status.”
Owen highlighted that the UK government was in regular contact with US counterparts, as well as “other international partners”.
“The British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has spoken with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, emphasising the UK’s commitment to upholding international law and the need for a peaceful and stable democracy in Venezuela.
“We continue to track developments and will provide updates through official government channels.”
She added her Christmas message had underlined security was a major priority for Britain in its relationship with its overseas territories.
Owen said the UK also worked with Caribbean governments to boost security, fight crime and tackle drug-trading, dirty money and irregular migration.
“These commitments remain unchanged, and our agencies here in Cayman continue to pursue strategies with this united objective.”
Narco-terrorism charges
US special forces seized Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on Saturday, 3 Jan., from Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.
They were taken to New York, where they will face trial on narco-terrorism charges.
The raid in Caracas came after the US started in September to target Venezuelan vessels alleged to be involved in smuggling drugs to the US.
The Caracas operation took less than three hours and US President Donald Trump said the US would assume temporary control of the country and tap into its huge oil reserves, selling it to other countries to help fund reconstruction.
The arrests were greeting with jubilation by Venezuelan opposition leaders and some of its citizens overseas, but the UN said that the action set “a dangerous precedent” and emphasised the need for international law to be respected.
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The country is safe unless someone decides to change its status quo.
Yes, your Excellency, Cayman is “safe and secure”. It’s all quiet on the western (Caribbean) front until the orange lunatic launches attacks on Cuba and our airspace and shipping lanes are closed.
Plan for it.
“From your lips….” The first half on an old and wise Yiddish I learned as a child.
I suspect the governor is correct. But it’s not because of the affirmative action by the UK, it’s because Rubio’s plans to ferment regional discord extending to Cuba have been frustrated by the decisions made by his attention deficit disorder boss since his unilateral, illegal act of war against the sovereign state of Venezuela.
Like many who frequent the Caymans, I hail from a former empire that grew on debt and blew itself up financially and I have read with great diligence what it did or attempted to do with control of oil to save itself.
History may not repeat itself but it sure as heck provides a useful template for probable action by would-be world leaders who lack both the clout and the cash to achieve their ends.
And the US is a debtor nation. It spend more on servicing its debt than it does on wars and weaponry. And that signals two things; the beginning of the end for the empire and a more uncomfortable period for those caught in the maelstrom of it all.
As my fellow OS, Branson said recently the US deserves a business leader but not this one. I don’t very often agree with Richard, but he’s right about Trump. The man is dangerous and the world needs to deal with him as a threat.
Right now the tactic is to wait for the midterms to disable him politically. That is a mistake. He is already disabled politically and it has no curb on his White House Cabal.
Impeached twice, Indicted 34 times. Rescued from bankruptcy by casino investors, a man who owes some three thousand plus New York and district contractors money he will never pay and still more than a third of Americans think he is going to save them from their own miscalculated lives.
Americans are great people but they are not great happy people. Their particular brand of debt-fueled capitalism creates terrible stress for the ordinary folks and they deal with it by acting out in ways that make little or no political sense in the cold light of day.
I don’t have the answers. just have a rather stark view of the problem. And pretending it doesn’t exist or that if it does it will self-solve because that’s the way democracies work is far too 1937/8.