Antigua advertises 365 beaches to attract  precious tourists to this once peaceful and safe island.  What Antiguan leaders want to hide is a stark reality of rampant and unabated crime, which culminated this weekend in the execution of a British couple who were according to sketchy information, visiting Antigua for, or after their wedding. The wife is dead! The husband lies in critical condition in the local hospital! According to reports the couple was tied and shot in the head by armed men in their cottage at the Coco Beach Resort.

A Mr. Lovell, Minister of Tourism, (I will not refer to him as the Hon. Mr. Lovell, because he is anything but honorable) showed his true colors this morning on a local TV station, when he urged the people of Antigua not to allow this to affect the islands precious tourism! I was shocked and appalled when he made the statement, “the British Press has not picked this story up which is a good thing”. 

Yes Mr. Lovell, lets hide the murder from the world.  Lets not hold responsible those in the Ministry who have done nothing to stop the erosion of police enforcement of law on this island for the past two years.  Sweep it under the table, and never ever speak about the truth of the state of affairs on Antigua relative to crime!  I just wonder how the family and friends of these  victims would feel hearing Mr. Lovell defend a totally inept police force, and most of all spend 30 minutes attempting to normalize a horrendous murder by siting statistics of crime on other islands, and encouraging anyone listening to treat this as some kind of aberration! IT IS NOT AN ABERRATION! It is a deadly serious condition of crime in Antigua affecting real people on a daily basis!

The vicious crime against persons and property occurring on now daily basis, could for the most part have been prevented!  Yes, Mr. Lovell I said prevented.  Crimes could have been prevented if those who hold elected office had of taken strong action  two years ago to insist the police, courts, and criminal justice system, do their prescribed job.  Instead they focused on the almighty dollar they could bring in by bending to any and every corporation who wanted to plow up this precious island and build hotels.  They focused on building a “front” for outsiders to see.  The front  is about nice paved streets, a huge cricket stadium the tax payers keep up, electricity in areas the outsiders will use,  and tourism which puts mega bucks in developers and their cronies pockets, leaving the islands people in abject poverty!

Behind the “front” is a crime and drug ridden society now taxed beyond their means to pay.  The government cannot even supply the basics of plentiful clean water and power to the people of Antigua, simply because they have other priorities.  They are approaching the same  status as Jamaica, where the tourists see the beaches and palms from behind wire fences, while the population is suffering from acute poverty and crime equaling that of a war!

By omission, the Ministers and police have allowed the criminals to take control of this island.  They continue to slant the truth, skirt around any direct responsibility, and Mr. Lovell, focus on the almighty tourist dollar.

This murder, rampant home invasions by armed masked men, police involved in the drug trade (fined when caught), car jacking, burglary so out of control it is near impossible to maintain a business in St. Johns, and complete breakdown of the criminal justice system, is square in the lap of the Antiguan people and their elected representatives.  This is what is happening no matter how you try to defend, misdirect, and spin the truth.  Congratulations, you have earned what have.

I offer my condolences and my heart goes out to the victims from abroad, and the Antiguan victims as well.  This is truely  a sad, sad, moment in our lives!

“The Truth Shall Set You Free”

Mokenman