Another Bombing in Trinidad and Tobago: Suspects Held

I went to the grocery store to get some steaks, and caught the headline: 'TEN hurt, FIVE HELD: Bomb blast outside Smokey & Bunty. Smokey & Bunty is a hotspot in the liming sense in North Trinidad. But this time, it seems that some people were held - on the Jamaat al Muslimeen compound. So for all the Bush mouthpieces on terrorism, you actually have something to talk about now - since there were no prior connections to anyone.

I was asleep on this one - but Caribbean Free Radio picked up on it fast (great stuff, Georgia!). I'm not one of the late night 'limers' in this country. I pick my ground, and maybe I'm too careful, but... hey, I'm writing this. :-)

Now - some people are talking about this being the 4th blast - Sirius83 says it is - and maybe I missed one somewhere. He mentions this one:

...Bomb #3: KFC dumpster, Independece Square, downtown Port-of-Spain...

Sirius83 also has some pictures.

Missed that one completely. Shame on Taran. Loud things going boom and I miss one. I suppose my head has been down in my projects. Last night I had a martini and watched a movie.

And the way police have been doing things down here, there may not be a solid connection at this time. Whether or not the act itself is sensationalized into terrorism or is actually terrorism actually depends on the motives of the bombers. And there aren't any people who can be legally called 'bombers' yet - there are alleged bombers, and alleged ties to a Muslim group which has a history of violence. But simple minds just don't understand the importance of alleged in discourse, and will wantonly jump the gun and actually make the legal cases more difficult, even if the people are in fact guilty of bombing.

There was a first bombing this year in Trinidad, where helicopter rotor wash allegedly did not affect the capture of evidence, but people were hurt - not allegedly hurt. Then there was a second bombing. And then the one I missed.

Now this, which - amazingly - someone in the police force seemed to expect somewhere because of the dates. That's good police work, and whoever actually recognized the timing deserves a promotion. But, as everyone knows, you can't watch everywhere. So this happened. Am I more confident in the police? No, not really, but they have a lot to work against.

Since Georgia will be covering the anglophone Caribbean for Global Voices, keep an eye on her weblog. It will be good to have someone actually representing the Caribbean instead of reading about China all the time over there. It's also a great tourism move for the region, with all the podcasts - it's just unfortunate most people in the Caribbean don't have the bandwidth to appreciate podcasts, as Ethan-who-cannot-spell-Rampersad knows I have said before... :-)

Business as usual. We'll see if they got the right people next month.