(Trinidad Express) Seventh Day Adventist pastor Clive Dottin said his statements about Latin American assassins operating in T&T and schooling teenage students in their deadly trade were based on his own experience. He said the information he shared on Tuesday was based on his interaction with young people who are involved in criminal activities and struggling to get out.
Dottin raised eyebrows with the claim at the funeral of slain police sergeant Hayden Manwaring as he spoke against the criminals he said were corrupting impressionable youths, initially lured by the opportunity to make fast money.
He also charged that many drug lords were masquerading as respectable businessmen, and had young people doing their bidding. While the big businessmen continued to elude capture, he said it was the young people who were being killed and jailed.
While he was very selective and careful about who he shared the information with, he said those involved in the protective agencies were well aware of what he was talking about.
“I am not the only one aware of this, I might be brave enough by God’s grace to say it,” Dottin said.
Speaking about the ripples his statements have caused, Dottin explained: “In light of what is taking place, the reason why tremendous police officers like Sgt Manwaring, why they are dying and why they are under threat is because of a whole corruption network in the society that endangers them.”
He said the message he was sending to the audience, which included National Security Minister Jack Warner, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams, and DPP Roger Gaspard, was that when people like Manwaring are gunned down, “if it does not make a difference, then it would have been in vain.”
Defending his decision to use that platform to make the alarming statements, Dottin said the timing was perfect because pastors and professionals in the congregation must speak out and rescue the nation.
“The message I was sending is that we have to save our youths…Fellas coming here and modelling a certain type of Mexican-style, Colombian-style killing,” he said. “When we have a situation where a head is placed outside of a bar, it can’t be business as usual.
“Right now I am reaching out to young people in several schools in this country, who are trapped in gangs and they are telling me they joined the gang to deal with their enemies, to get quick money, but they did not want to take part in that kind of grotesque brutality.”
He said by the grace of God he had been able to rescue some, but many others trapped in this situation were reaching out for help. He said, “We need to find a way out for them. I want to be somebody young people can trust. We need courage and honest people to step out of the plate and help the young people and avoid innocent people like Manwaring being gunned down.”
Dottin said what happened to Manwaring was an indictment against the society. “We have to speak out and we have to express outrage,” he said. “A lot of criminal elements feel we are scared of them and we are scared to take action against them. We have to declare war. We are approaching the moment of no return in this society and we can’t go on like that.”
Calls to acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams’ cellphone went unanswered yesterday, but at Manwaring’s funeral service, Deputy Police Commissioner Mervyn Richardson, in a brief interview with reporters, said Dottin’s claims were “something worth taking a second look at.”
