Raising… the Barima

Listening to some of the commentary surrounding the sunken MV Barima, your Eyewitness might conclude that salvaging a vessel from the seabed – mired in mud – is just a tad more complicated than retrieving a dropped car key from the gutter!! According to the armchair Admirals, all the Government needs is a sturdy rope, a tow truck, and perhaps two determined fishermen named Bolo and Suresh!! By lunchtime the ferry should be sitting neatly on the stelling, freshly washed and ready for the evening sailing!!
Who knew marine salvage had become so delightfully uncomplicated? Never mind that professional French army divers – who do this for a living – have concluded that the conditions are too dangerous for recovery operations!! What do THEY know compared with the experts whose closest encounter with deep water is the flooded drain outside Parliament after a heavy shower?!!
Apparently, strong currents are merely suggestions; zero visibility is just a lack of optimism; twisted steel, trapped air pockets, and unstable wreckage are mere inconveniences – best overcome with bravado and Facebook posts!! You’d think that recovering a submerged vessel is like lifting a bicycle out of a trench!! In reality, Dear Readers, marine salvage ranks among the most technically demanding and dangerous undertakings in engineering!! Divers have been crushed by shifting hulls, trapped in collapsed compartments and swept away by underwater currents that cannot even be seen from the surface!!
But none of that should interrupt the chorus insisting, “The Govt just don’t want to do it!” But maybe the critics should volunteer to lead the expedition. After all, if the operation is as straightforward as they suggest, there ought to be a queue of self-appointed salvage specialists ready to don a snorkel, pocket a crescent wrench, and descend heroically to solve the problem before tea!!
The rest of the world, unfortunately, continues to rely on such antiquated notions as engineering surveys, remotely operated vehicles, decompression protocols, lifting calculations, weather windows and the inconvenient desire to avoid adding more names to the list of the dead!! There’s a painful irony here. The nation quite properly wants answers; families deserve closure, and every reasonable effort should be made to investigate the tragedy and recover what can safely be recovered!
But “reasonable” is the operative word. The ocean ain’t impressed by political slogans or social media bravado!! It obeys only the laws of physics – and those remain stubbornly immune to posturing!! If recovering the Barima can be done safely, of course it should be done!! But if the professionals conclude that attempting it immediately would exchange one tragedy for another, then maybe the wisest course is to listen to those who’ve already risked their lives long enough to tell us the truth.

…Rubio!!
The New York Times has always had a flair for dramatic prose, but its recent portrayal of Marco Rubio’s influence over Venezuela would make even the ghost of Julius Caesar blush. It seems Rubio’s not just America’s Secretary of State but now Emperor of Venezuela, issuing edicts from Washington while Caracas obediently awaits the imperial thumbs-up. Hyperbole may sell newspapers – but it can also distort reality! While the US undoubtedly exerts considerable influence over Venezuelan affairs, influence ain’t sovereignty. Advising, pressuring or even directing policy through diplomatic leverage ain’t the same as ruling a country!!
Perhaps the Times was searching for a sexy headline – but in making Rubio sound like a 21st-century proconsul, it’s trivialising the complex interplay of Venezuelan politics, American diplomacy and international law!! Empires have emperors, while nation-states have Governments – however dependent they are!
The irony is delicious. While Washington’s been long accused of treating Latin America like its empire, the New York Times just handed Marco Rubio the crown!!
Et tu, Marco?!!

…Parliamentary ruckus!
Your Eyewitness is still gobsmacked at the Opposition refusing the Speaker’s offers for their leaders to say their piece from the floor of Parliament!! Instead, they seemed determined to import their street hooliganism into those hallowed chambers!!
Wankers!!