The execution of Dana Seetahal, SC is a further reflection of the abyss the country has descended into, where public figures are now in danger of being assassinated. That was the opinion of the Movement of Social Justice, a former arm of the coalition government, in a press statement issued hours after Seetahal was gunned down on Sunday. The release said the murder “is not a random act of violence, but a targeted assassination of a very visible public figure.”
While assassinations were not new in T&T, MSJ noted that when gangs assassinate each other’s members, the police label them as “gang-related” and for the most part no one had been brought to justice. Recalling the killing of another attorney, Dr Wesley Debideen, nine months ago at the Grand Bazaar shopping plaza, the Movement said his murder remained unsolved. The statement added: “The execution of an individual of Ms Seetahal’s profile is a clear attack on the institutions of the State and public figures. We are now in a new situation where public officials are, like in Colombia and Mexico, subject to the danger of assassination.
“The extent to which the country can wrest itself from certain barbarism depends on the extent to which the TTPS is able to bring the perpetrators to justice in the shortest possible time.
“History is not on their side and no doubt this figured highly in the planning of those who executed the act.” The movement called on all sectors to begin discussing their collective roles in addressing crime.