Gotta… get their man

The US ambassador was buttonholed on the side-lines of the Energy Conference by an enterprising reporter who asked her country’s position on their request for Sanction Man’s extradition to face the music stateside. She didn’t skip a beat and emphasised what an “IMPORTANT” question it was!! Said she, “I want to make it incredibly clear that the US Government is totally and completely committed to seeing this through. We do not spend tens of thousands of US taxpayer dollars to request extradition when we don’t care about something.” Now you can’t get clearer than that, can you??
The context for the question, of course, is the rear guard action Sanction Man and his Daady (SM&D) launched to drag out the extradition request in the courts!! While they simultaneously pursue their Pablo Escobar strategy to secure a political platform for gaining legitimacy!! The reporter focused on the delays in the courts, where the two sanctionees are hoping to repeat T&T’s Jack Warner’s extradition request, which was dragged out for TEN years – with the matter finally becoming moot!! SM&D even hired one of Jack’s Trini lawyers!! But what SM&D seem to forget is Jack’s extradition request concerned a FIFA matter – something very low on the US Government’s radar!!
Here, the OFAC-generated extradition request arises from smuggling gold to Miami – some of which allegedly originated in Venezuela!! And sold here by the Cartel de los Soles (CDLS), of which Mad Maduro’s the head – and which helped prop up that illegal regime!! The US is gonna be putting Mad Maduro on the stand – as they’d done to Panama’s narco-trafficking Noriega in the 1990s! – to interrogate the workings of CDLS as they shipped cocaine and gold using the same organisations!!
As such, the US gonna be looking to pick up some evidence from SM&D when they’re squeezed on their Venezuelan connection!! You would remember, dear reader, that gold dealer who was caught on tape singing like a canary about how Venezuelan military big ones – who all answer to Mas Maduro – came over to Guyana to sell the gold they’re supposed to refine for their country!!
Anyhow, we should all know by now that when our local crooks play checkers, the Yanks and their embedded agents are playing chess!! So when the US Ambassador speaks, we should listen!! For all we know they may be getting impatient for the Ambassador to be so insistent to conclude, “It’s incredibly important to us that this keeps moving forward. We want to see justice served!!” Incredibly important!! Now your Eyewitness ain’t saying that the Yanks will send in some of those Green Berets who extracted Mad Maduro. But we hope our courts are listening!!
A hint to Beneba mek Quashie tek notice!!

…screen youth social media!!
The explosion in dysfunctional and violent behaviour in youths – amongst themselves and even to themselves as “self-harm” – has caused Governments across the world to sit up and take notice!! Here in Guyana there’s been some talk about this, but your Eyewitness thinks it’s time to get serious – since we’re not just talking about “authoritarian China” or “theocratic Afghanistan”!!
We can do worse than examine the strengths and limitations of social media bans or restrictions imposed as of last year on schoolchildren in Australia!! One thing’s very clear – in the absence of any other practicable and effective measure, restricting kids’ easy access to all social media is increasingly popular. Over 77 per cent of Australians have supported the restrictions promulgated since late last year.
More germanely, a survey found that globally, 65 per cent of people support banning children under 14 from using social media!! France, Denmark and Greece have almost finalised rules banning children under 16 from accessing social media.
What are we doing??!!

…bring back the IMF?
In 2007, Chavez paid off all of Venezuela’s debt to the IMF – and refused to subsequently engage them!! After their economy imploded, the IMF didn’t reengage – but we were just told that they’re considering it!!
Dealing with the Devil’s bankers??