Speaking of the mighty Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare said “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” And this has been so even though the Romans tried changing it: “De mortuis nil; nisi bonnum” – of the dead speak only the good!! Well, at the State Funeral accorded to Shridath “Sonny” Ramphal on Saturday, his “good” was certainly extolled by a wide cross-section of local and foreign dignitaries – as his bones were interred at Seven Ponds following an extensive ceremony at the Promenade Gardens. He’d been cremated in Barbados – where he spent most of his later life – but your Eyewitness figures the ashes collected in a vase and interred came from the bones – we can say his bones were interred along with his “good”.
Of the latter, there was one glaring anomaly in the presence of Ralph Gonsalves from St Vincent – and bestie of Mad Maduro. One of Sonny’s big “good” was his defence of our western border against the depredations of the Venezuelans. He was there at the negotiation of the Geneva Agreement in 1966 and subsequent mustering of support at various international fora to counter the machinations of all Venezuelan presidents – down to Mad Maduro. Of course, he was paid for his efforts but he had a helluva lot of institutional memory on the subject. As such, he’d have known of Ralph Gonzalves’ betrayal of West Indian solidarity when he voted against censuring Mad Maduro’s rigging of the last elections – and persecution of his Opposition. He shouldn’t have been allowed to speak!!
But back to the “good” that’s now interred with Sonny’s bones. We heard that he cooked a mean “duck curry” – which he served to his family and friends. Your Eyewitness expects he called it that rather than “curry duck” like the Trinis. After all, in his memoirs he pointed out that the Trinis had erred on naming other foods such as “bigan” and “bora”!! There was, of course, praise on his efforts as Commonwealth SG on ending apartheid in South Africa – and your Eyewitness found it curious no one from that country even sent a recorded message. Ingrates?? Or do they know something about Sonny Boy that we don’t know??
But now on to his “evils” that Shakespeare assures us will live on – and which we can now expatiate on since his “good” has been interred with his bones. First and foremost – and from our Guyanese perspective this outweighs all his “good” – was his silence on Burnham’s launching of his dictatorship in rigging the 1968 and 1973 elections and killing the Ballot Box martyrs.
BEFORE he was rewarded with the Commonwealth Secretary Generalship!!
…private armies
One of the innovations of modern politics is the rise of private armies fighting across borders. Recently, we were all treated to the sight of the Russian “Wagner Group” – which has been deployed in Europe and as far as Sub-Saharan African countries – marching on Moscow after its founder tangled with Putin!! But the Americans are never left behind in these matters.
They have the Blackwater Group ,which saw action in Iraq during the Bush Jr regime – and then in a wide range of theatres. It’s founded by Erik Prince – businessman heir to a massive Michigan fortune; hefty contributor to Republican politicians’ campaigns and brother to former US Education Sect Betsy De Vos. Well, a month ago, he proposed X to overthrow Mad Maduro’s illegal regime after the latter rigged their elections.
And we just received this report: “Three Americans, (including a Navy Seal), two Spaniards and a Czech citizen have been detained in Venezuela on suspicion of plotting to destabilise the country.
…the Ig Nobel Prize
In tandem with the annual Nobel Prize Awards there’s the Ig Nobel Prize spoof – Ignoble, get it?? This year, the Botany Prize caught your Eyewitness’s eye: Jacob White and Felipe Yamashita, for finding evidence that some real plants imitate the shapes of neighbouring artificial plastic plants!!
