Dear Editor,
Roman Catholic priest Malcolm Rodrigues tells the Stabroek News that it is “time to talk to the terrorists” (Feb 11).
If anything, the lengthy interview shows how inept some religious people can be when dealing with non-spiritual issues. Fr Rodrigues says the authorities should have a “real dialogue” with the criminals to find out exactly what they want. The priest stopped short of volunteering himself as a liaison for the bandits.
When it comes to talking with criminals, apparently Fr Rodrigues is unaware that “Fineman” Rawlins is already in dialogue with the police and newspapers and says he wants his “child-mother” back. The teenage child-mother has either ran away from Rawlins or was kidnapped by unknown persons.
How can the government give bandits what they want when rival gangs are battling? Should the government mediate their drug wars? Should the government undermine electoral democracy to placate the vicious delusions of those who feel entitled to undeserved political power?
“We have to engage them to see if a space could be created for them,” Fr Rodrigues says quite naively. In my experience, killer bandits invade homes to steal the life savings of honest hardworking citizens. They don’t go looking for “space” to fit in. They crave material wealth that they do not want to honestly work for.
The priest reveals that some people believe that they do not have a stake in the country and they cannot migrate, so instead they turn to criminal violence. Is he suggesting that we can eliminate the Buxton gang by making “Fineman” a vice-president in the government? Give him a “stake” in running the country?
Of course, the good Fr. Rodrigues does not say what the Catholic Church does to help alleviate this hopelessness he claims is so widespread.
Why can’t the church in Guyana donate one Sunday’s collection to the poor in Buxton? Has Fr Rodrigues used his considerable influence in the business community to find jobs for “Fineman” and his associates, you know, to find them a “space”?
Fr Rodrigues claims that he sees many young people sleeping on the pavement. He did not speak of efforts that his church (the wealthiest on earth) could make to do the Christian thing and build a shelter for these young people. Isn’t charity one of the most important tenets of Christianity?
For my part, the only talking accused killers should do is with a judge in a court of law.
Yours faithfully,
Justin de Freitas
