THE EAGLE IS WATCHING; HELEN IS LISTENING AND RICHARD IS CRUMBLING: PT 1

The turn of events around the revocation of Richard’s diplomatic visa has been baffling to say the least; but should “baffling” be our right frame of mind? He has apparently caused untold damage to St. Lucia’s image worldwide; and like a kid holding a grenade in his hand, he acts as if he is either blissfully unaware of what lies before him and the implications or that he has done absolutely nothing wrong.

The news about his visa revocation assumed international proportions paralleling the international publicity St. Lucia received when Derek Walcott was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1992. It has saturated the international press as well as the social media networks; the news has spread from the Caribbean to China and Taiwan; from Europe to the USA, Latin America and Canada; from Australia to Africa to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh etc. It is simultaneously being widely broadcast on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.  It cannot be a good moment for that innocent and tiny speck of dust called St. Lucia.

Richard wants the world to believe that he is an innocent person framed by certain elements in St. Lucia, even citing Wikileaks to support his claims. On the one hand, he claims that his two American visas were revoked without any basis; or on the basis of hearsay. If that were the case, then it’s a serious indictment on the credibility of the Bridgetown Embassy and also the US States Department; (and some St. Lucian journalists including Timothy Poleon, Rick Wayne, Andre Paul) seem to believe his story completely). On the other hand, he proceeds to simultaneously falsify his own conspiracy theories by claiming that he does not know the reason(s) or circumstances for the revocation.

BOUSQUET: RICHARD KNEW ABOUT IT SOMETIME AGO

The revocation of a diplomatic visa of a minister especially from a friendly nation by the world’s superpower is an extraordinary, earth-shattering event much bigger than this small island. If what Richard says is true in respect of the baselessness of the US action, then the entire staff of the US embassy and the US State department should be summarily dismissed and Richard should be compensated in proportion to the magnitude of the injustice against him. But Richard himself is overwhelmingly confused, hovering between two contradictory versions of what he perceives to be the truth; and in the heat of the moment, he may not have given deep thought about his pronouncements.  

I believe in the presumption of innocence until proven guilty; but Richard gives the impression that he is guilty of something: whether it be he feels guilty about his hitherto non-disclosure of the truth or it means that he is coming down with an extremely guilty conscience weighing crushing his soul – and that may be the “third dimension” of the revocation which we all seek.