After an excellent update and pointing the way forward on the gradual re-opening of the country on Saturday, the Prime Minister concluded with the rather unfortunate affirmation, “It is not voodoo; it is science.” I gasped. I couldn’t imagine that after the shameless display of Trini xenophobia against Haitian survivors of the destructive earthquake of 2010 that our leaders would remain in such a state of cultural backwardness.

Indian Arrival Day is a time to overcome obstacles and was celebrated once again in Trinidad and Tobago yesterday. We are in the midst of a battle with an invisible enemy that has infected millions around the world.

The world does not need more successful people, there are enough of those—they rule the world. What the world needs are peacemakers, carers, people who love each other, and peace. In our world might is right and “peaceniks” (to use an old-fashioned word) are passe.

In considering the Opposition’s widely denounced letter to the US ambassador, Prof Selwyn Cudjoe was not surprised by their action, casting it in a long tradition of “irrational Indian fear/hatred of blacks and a feeling of un-belonging” (Express, May 10 and 24).