T&T faces major Tribute to David N. Dinkins
refugee row
a thriving and very active human smuggling
ring in operation alongside the
export of prostitutes, guns and drugs to
the twin-island republic with Tobago.
Rowley’s critics say the deportations
could have been managed more
humanely given the fact that there
were many women and infant children,
most of whom returned to Trinidad at
midweek, citing engine problems on
their boats, providing new headaches
for authorities.
It is believed that there are about
60,000 Venezuelans living in Trinidad
alone and more than 30,000 in neighboring
Guyana. These two CARICOM
nations have borne the brunt of refugees
fleeing economic and other hardships
back home.
“Currently we have closed our borders
even to our own citizens in this
pandemic and would resist all efforts
by others who are hell bent on forcing
open our borders through illegal migration
to every economic migrant, gun
runner, human trafficker and South
American gang leader. All they will be
required to do is to make the sevenmile
boat trip and claim to be refugees,”
Rowley said in a statement.
He said the island is under attack
from elements in the Organization
Caribbean L 12 ife, Nov. 27-Dec. 3, 2020
of American States and the outgoing
Trump Administration, angry with
government for not supporting regime
change in Venezuela.
He said these were “using nameless,
faceless people armed with innocent
children to try to force us to accept
their understanding of refugee status
and international treaties where a little
island nation of 1.3 million people must
be expected to maintain open borders
to a next door neighbor of 34 million
people even during a pandemic. It is
our little island nation which facilitated
the registration of 16,000 Venezuelan
migrants and even as we ourselves are
struggling to cope with our own difficulties
we have afforded them comfort,
Continued from Page 1
that Dinkins assumed his role in City
Hall and in history at a time when the
city faced compounding crises of economic
turbulence, racial injustice, and
systemic failings in housing, policing
and healthcare, among other things.
“The mayor sought to steer the city
through the moment and move it forward,”
Williams said. “He took up that
mission not with bombast or ego, but
with deliberative determination to continue
down the path of liberty, justice
and equity.”
He said Dinkins was “a moral center
for the city with a clear vision for a better
New York.”
In creating the Civilian Complaint
Review Board (CCRB), in leading the
Safe Streets, Safe City initiative, among
many other areas, Williams said Dinkins
“paved the way for progress we would
later see and which others would try to
claim credit for.
“He took strong interest in uplifting
and supporting young people like myself,
and he focused on creating direct and
indirect opportunities for growth that I
and others now try to build upon,” the
public advocate said. “And for his work,
he was mercilessly attacked and vilified
by those who would rather stoke resentment
than solve problems.
“Through all of the criticism, he
continued to do the work he knew to
be right,” he added. “After he left office,
he continued to be a pillar of leadership,
and a role model for people across the
borough and the nation.”
Williams said losing Mayor Dinkins,
just weeks after his beloved wife, Joyce,
is “a solemn moment of sorrow for our
city.
“We owe him not only a debt of
gratitude but a commitment to try
and realize his vision for what the gorgeous
mosaic of New York City can be
— uplifting each piece, and recognizing
that it is at its strongest and most
beautiful when the pieces are brought
together, as was Mayor Dinkins’ mission,”
Williams continued. “His passing
leaves a gap in that mosaic as New York
feels a historic loss.”
Brooklyn Democratic Party chair
Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte,
the daughter of Haitian immigrants,
said Mayor Dinkins, who served a single
four-year term during the 1990s, will be
remembered as “a pioneer in the history
of our city.
“As New York’s first Black mayor, he
broke barriers and sought to unify New
Yorkers during a tense time in our city’s
past,” said Bichotte, who represents the
42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn.
She said Dinkins established the
city’s first Minority-owned Women
Business Enterprise (MWBE) program,
“setting the course for minority and
women entrepreneurs to prosper in the
empire state.”
Continued from Page 1
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago,
Dr. Keith Rowley. Government of
Trinidad and Tobago
Bill de Blasio
Mayor
Dave A. Chokshi, MD, MSc
Commissioner