Urgent US Military Intervention Needed in Grand Cayman (open letter)

[barbaraann]

The following is the full text of an
open letter from Mr Timothy Adam
Chief Executive, Cable & Wireless
(Cayman Islands) Ltd

Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Grand Cayman urgently needs military intervention to restore and to preserve law and order. This needs to happen TODAY.

No doubt US authorities are already aware of the widespread looting that has occurred. I have heard sporadic attempts at looting continue to occur. I got caught in traffic right beside a site where police had shot several times at a looter and had detained him, and there was a near riot - a very volatile situation to which police responded promptly with heavy assault weapon teams.

Last night there was a prison riot at HMP Northward in which a number of prisoners escaped. A prison guard was injured (I have heard it was not fatal) and a fire was started in the prison. ALL the island's law enforcement agencies had to be diverted to deal with this. The situation has been calmed down but it is still volatile, the police have had to go back there in force subsequent to the initial incident being calmed, and there now remains a serious weakness in the security force because a lot of the police and Special Constables are now diverted to handle the situation. Worse yet, there is a convicted rapist and a convicted murderer on the loose. Police have now been diverted from their already seriously stretched law and order duties to search for these dangerous criminals under difficult circumstances. The island's power supply has not been turned back on yet and even when it is, most of the electricity poles on the island have been broken, even huge concrete poles snapped, and there are NO streetlights ANYWHERE on the island. Police are operating in total darkness.
...
http://www.caymannetnews.com/2004/09/738/letter.shtml


I seriously doubt if there are enough troops avaiable for this.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Too bad..there are enough wealthy American tax cheats there to pay for

better services but they don't believe in paying their way...let them see what anarchy and disorganized crime look like for a while...let them see what happens when one lives in a place where there aren't enough funds left to stem the lawlessness...fuck them

I do feel sorry for the average folks there but the Cayman's are home to many American tax cheats...if they are in danger...tough shit.

[cliss]

12. exactly.

I enjoy reading Architectural Digest, and I think every month there is a new article of some ultra-wealthy home in the Cayman Islands on display. The homes really are gorgeous.

Now ask me if I cried when I visualized their grand pianos under 8 feet of water. I DO feel sorry for the nearby islands, however. Other peoples' homes may not be as sturdily built and they are probably having a tough time putting the pieces back together.

That's where my sympathies lie, not with the greedy companies who have a PO Box in the Caymans.

[AndyTiedye]

13. I'm Sure the Crooks Have their Own Private Security

and always have had. It's the common folk who will suffer.

[Eye and Monkey]

15. "Private security" sucked-up into Iraq as mercs, perhaps.

Ironic, hmmm?

[blm]

2. Think of all the US corporate crooks who have been using the Cayman's

to cover their ill-gotten gains. It's practically their own personal financial haven for corporate thieves.

I am sure they want BushInc to step in and protect their loot and their documents.

[Crachet2004]

3. Call the UK.

[elehhhhna]

6. They put the Cubans that drift in into a tent city...doubt that held up--

There are many poor people on the island...they are proud and devoutly religious, and there's little racial stife, as the Caymans were not slave islands. In fact, most of the leading families are interracially mixed. But there are lots of young male idiots with machetes. This really sucks.

I left my heart in the Caymans the first time I saw it...

[Zynx]

4. Screw the Caymans

In addition to the tax cheats, they help the drug cartels operate in this country.

[mitchtv]

17. also openly homophobic

refused docking priviledges to a gay cruise liner a whie ago- They do not want gays, I do not want my taxes to bail them out. They are already bailing out homphobes in VA. The Hatriot state

[BeachBuckeye]

5. Its up to the British

It is ruled by the Brits. They will have to be the ones to intervene.

[Catherine Vincent]

8. That's what I say. Their government is British run.

[MGKrebs]

7. They got any oil?

[mbperrin]

14. Now THAT might get some action!

TEE

[TahitiNut]

9. This is to be expected where the disparity in wealth is so huge.

:shrug:

[barbaraann]

10. Oops. This is a duplicate.

It's also on GD.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. The government site doesn't think it's that bad

http://www.caymanislands.ky/

The Government reports that there are no confirmed casualties.

The Government reports that there are no reports of missing persons.

Retail banks on the island will be reopened tomorrow, which will allow resident to access needed funds. The following steps have been taken in the last twenty-four hours:

* Emergency canteens are operating at shelters in George Town, proving meals free of charge. Other canteens are being set up across the island. The Government is appealing for volunteers locally.
* Water trucks are being stationed around the island to make clean water available to local communities free of charge.
* Water inspectors and the water companies are moving property by property across Grand Cayman to assess what repairs are needed to restore water supplies as soon as possible.
* Fuel and water are being supplied to hospitals and shelters.
* Fuel suppliers have resources in the US on which they are drawing, to get gasoline stations, which have not suffered too much damage, operational.
* Texaco, Esso and a local gas company are meeting today to discuss the logistics of delivering and distributing fuel.
* 150 generators are expected to arrive in the Cayman Islands shortly.
* It is expected that auxiliary power from these generators will provide power later today to parts of George Town, with the first priority being the emergency services and the airport.
* 40,000 lbs of electrical equipment and expert electrical engineers are being flown in to the island today.
* 1,000 electricity pylons will arrive from Tampa, Florida on Friday and a further 500 pylons are being shipped from Belize on Friday.
* Forty-five electricity distribution workers and supervisors will be on Grand Cayman by the end of the week.
* The Governor has met with the construction industry to co-ordinate the rebuilding of homes.

The Owen Roberts Airport is expected to be fully operational by Friday remaining in restricted use exclusively for relief assistance. The airport has capacity currently to operate flights only in daylight. The airport expects to resume night operations in a few days. Cayman Airways is operating an aggressive, yet restricted schedule.
...
Furthermore, Air Jamaica will have two flights to Jamaica today, and will bring in supplies on their inbound journey.

Personnel from the Royal Navy are assisting with shelter management, water distribution, first aid and engineering. They are also advising the Governor on a range of other matters.

[RebelYell]

16. The guy that wrote the letter

is worried about how much $ he's losing every day his towers aren't working.

[Nevernose]

18. Sounds like MY neigborhood

I hate to get all isolationist in the world, but damn, couldn't we fund some of the schools properly around here, maybe lift a few ids out of poverty?