Deandrea Hamilton and Rashaed Esson
Editorial Staff
In December, the HMS Trent was dispatched to Guyana as tensions flared between that country and Venezuela over the oil-rich Essequibo region.
Now, the HMS Trent has a new mission and it is en route to set up in waters between Haiti and the Turks and Caicos Islands amidst the ongoing chaos in the Republic.
On Friday, David Rutley, UK Secretary of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office said he was sending the ship and other assets to support the TCI in border security.
It is an answer to residents’ call for marine military presence at sea to fend off any more Haitian sloops which would try to make it to TCI shores illegally.
The Trent is already making its mark in the region, having in the past three weeks made two massive drug interceptions; street value of the cocaine put at nearly 300 million pounds.
So far 325 Haitians have been intercepted.
The HMS Trent is a Batch 2 River Class patrol vessel, it is armed and can carry a crew of up to 50 soldiers.
This is important for the Turks and Caicos which sits less than 200 miles off the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic.
The situation in Haiti is worsening at an alarmingly fast rate, the suffering of Haitians, especially women and children, now increased. On Saturday, March 16, reports say a UNICEF container, one of 17 with maternal, neonatal and child survival essentials was robbed in the capital Port au Prince, depriving vulnerable women and children of vital health supplies.
Hospitals across Haiti are forced to close, leaving only 4 out of 10 hospitals functional and two surgical operating facilities. Also, the main Airport in Port au Prince, reports say, remains closed after a recent gang attack. Now, despite the recent developments by CARICOM, officials towards political stability, there is push back from gangs as leader Jimmy Cherizier is reported saying they will not recognize decisions made by CARICOM.
