Narco Trafficking in Trinidad

[dougla_boy]

This govt would never let ish n steve be extradited.

exactly...... hence the AG never bother to file an appeal, saying someting that it's a waste of time and also the Sec34 bachannal........

[kurpal_v2]

Check ur pm

Admin ah delete it.



#fightdong

[trini mk5]

Fellars a good read here. Not on the same topic as drugs but it gives a little insight into the minds of the caribbean politician and why he is so easily corrupted. Also great pieces to the end of the comments section below by ramesh deosaran and other prominent people in society as they give their opinions of the book
http://pariapublishing.blogspot.com/201 ... -will.html

[slick]

Sky-high prices helping to fuel drug trade

Story Created: Mar 21, 2013 at 8:48 PM ECT
Story Updated: Mar 21, 2013 at 8:48 PM ECT

WE COULD all agree that gangland in the Caribbean (including Trinidad) is rooted in illicit drug trafficking, according to Daurius Figueira’s book, Cocaine and Heroin Trafficking in the Caribbean, excerpts of which were published in the Express newspapers recently.

However, it is not sufficient for Mr Figueira, in his excerpts, to state that illegal international cartels have so radically changed the social order in the Caribbean that the Caribbean state is now perpetually battling for its survival, and leave it at that, ostensibly, to protect one’s back.

To be credible, Figueira must seek to identify the money trail between the cartels of which he writes, and corrupt public officials. Perhaps he has sufficient time between now and the publication date of his book to do so. We should not wait on the Europeans to do what we must do ourselves.

Our social anthropologists, political scientists, historians and the like aren’t seemingly bothered to piece together and provide solutions to the vast amounts of information already at hand in this oral society.

There have been rumours of ministers of Government offering and buying millions of dollars in real estate, helping to artificially push up real estate prices in the country. There have been accusations of Government allegedly purchasing real estate and goods and services by paying questionably artificially inflated prices. Recently, it was publicly made known that high officials operating in an international self-regulating industry, in a clear conflict of interest scenario, also may not have paid stamp duty taxes on their luxury apartments.

If one man having to do with the nation’s security business tells another man in the business of security that he ain’t going there, it too big for him, which National Security head dealing with that and, if not, why not?

What do these examples have to do with me and you and the illicit drug trade, you may ask? The cost of real estate, goods and services become artificially high, prohibitively so, while the quality of goods and services descend.

Drug cartels and arms traders are dependent, too for their existence on a state’s corrupt patronage networks, fraudulent accounting practices, nepotism, bribery and kick-backs by all levels of public officials. Do T&T’s constitutionally appointed ombudsman and the auditor general contribute to our state of affairs by not being more effective in generating the level of activism that’s required of these posts?

What is the role of a comparatively woefully inexperienced FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) head when not preoccupied with complying with the basics of international protocols? Do local banks and other institutions involved in fiduciary relationships dealing with strict secrecy rules and traditions contribute to the country’s declining state of affairs?

What evolves for you and me is a finite number of super-rich persons who are overnight millionaire politicians, fiduciary officers, judicial, customs and police officers and so on, pushing up prices of the country’s commodities by their quick, easy and voluminous purchases of prime real estate and luxury goods and services while the majority of citizens cannot find their way to own a little piece of this rock, to maintain what they do own or to buy food and shelter to sustain their little ones. That cannot be right.

Not at all.

Kathleen Pinder
Port of Spain

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/ ... 57901.html

[ronsin1]

I think greedy people keeping the prices up

[Sacchetto Boutique]

^ ent

[ronsin1]

Sorry let me correct that Some Real Estate agents

[Habit7]

I think greedy people keeping the prices up

If it were artificially high prices then normal prices would clean up the market. But along with drugs, other factors like limited stock since we mostly live in the densist part of an island. Also with very low land taxes and little accountability for property upkeep, it is easily for a relative few to buy up stock and leave it to 'rot.'

[BRZ]

without DEMAND there will be no hiked up prices that STAY there.......

[assassin]

If it were as simple as greedy sellers, over time prices would be reduced due to lack of sales
Fact is that the properties are being sold at ridiculous prices that the normal buyer would say were over inflated
Who then is buying?
Ppl who do not care that properties are over inflated...
Ppl with a lot of free money that they cannot otherwise invest or bank

[eliteauto]

without DEMAND there will be no hiked up prices that STAY there.......

demand is artificial, lots of it was drug cash, lots of homes were purchased in recent years as stash houses and trade houses

[kaylex]

The laws of demand and supply dont apply when it comes to real estate in Trinidad and Tobago. Most of the prices remain inflated due to greed. Imagine the real estate market is a bit slow right now and prices are remaining high.. Neighboring Grenada and Guyana have cheaper real estate prices than we do.. While drugs and other illegal activities do infact impact on the prices I dont believe that it is the chief driver of the high prices..

Is just plain ole greed..
As for Mr. Figueroa .. his stuff is really entertaining but his analyses are sometimes a bit off and far fetched...

[pioneer]

Figs on point as usual.

[Rooki3]

well if allyuh smart capitalise on it, real estate is one of the worlds greatest currency

[Habit7]

The laws of demand and supply dont apply when it comes to real estate in Trinidad and Tobago. Most of the prices remain inflated due to greed. Imagine the real estate market is a bit slow right now and prices are remaining high.. Neighboring Grenada and Guyana have cheaper real estate prices than we do.. While drugs and other illegal activities do infact impact on the prices I dont believe that it is the chief driver of the high prices..

Is just plain ole greed..
As for Mr. Figueroa .. his stuff is really entertaining but his analyses are sometimes a bit off and far fetched...

Yeah but Guyana has so much land that 2/3 of their country claimed by Venezuela and they don't care. And Grenada has land because they have a terrible economy and most of their citizens live abroad.

Drugs is a factor, but many would be surprised how many trinis earn +$20,000 a month.

[Conrad]

well if allyuh smart capitalise on it, real estate is one of the worlds greatest currency

Tell that to some residents in Florida and where ever else the recession hit.

Prices would increase over time but in Trinidad they generally NEVER come down.

[slick]

We don't have d trafficking money so we can't afford the inflated prices

[Rooki3]

u wud always catch some idiot who willin to sell his birth right in pursuit of a vigo on 22's

[Conrad]

The laws of demand and supply dont apply when it comes to real estate in Trinidad and Tobago. Most of the prices remain inflated due to greed. Imagine the real estate market is a bit slow right now and prices are remaining high.. Neighboring Grenada and Guyana have cheaper real estate prices than we do.. While drugs and other illegal activities do infact impact on the prices I dont believe that it is the chief driver of the high prices..

Is just plain ole greed..
As for Mr. Figueroa .. his stuff is really entertaining but his analyses are sometimes a bit off and far fetched...

Yeah but Guyana has so much land that 2/3 of their country claimed by Venezuela and they don't care. And Grenada has land because they have a terrible economy and most of their citizens live abroad.

Drugs is a factor, but many would be surprised how many trinis earn +$20,000 a month.

In comparison to how many who earn ~$5,000 and actually think they're earning something decent?


I dunno where some of y'all roll but there are MANY people right here in Trinidad who are living on nothing much, especially AFTER they pay rent. I say we have much worst to come in our society before it even begins to get better.

[Crackpot]

People in this country blame drugs on everything. Trini's are just greedy and want to dig out yuh eye
and get rich overnight.

A good example is the "Man calls crazy price for car thread" where people quote ridiculous prices
for pieces of junk

The housing market is no different as the cost to build these homes unfurnished versus the profit margin is Vast to say the least. Who really can afford to buy a 3.5 million dollar house? The downpayment alone if its 10% is $350k That's why ppl say drugs and gangs and yadda yadda when they don't understand how our un-regulated markets operate

[Conrad]

u wud always catch some idiot who willin to sell his birth right in pursuit of a vigo on 22's

Spoken like a man who does import Johnson and Johnson by the boat loads.

Buy up his property in the back of God know where. It's an investment. Meh cash washed and when the government eventually build access road to it I could develop it and rent out some condo.

[noshownogo]

Have some mediocre homes newly built up by me with asking prices of 6+million. Grades of land steep and unusable, covered property <2000sf and built on hilltop only someone with a real 4x4 or parachute could access.

I laugh every time I jog pass them.

[Conrad]

People in this country blame drugs on everything. Trini's are just greedy and want to dig out yuh eye
and get rich overnight.

A good example is the "Man calls crazy price for car thread" where people quote ridiculous prices
for pieces of junk

The housing market is no different as the cost to build these homes unfurnished versus the profit margin is Vast to say the least. Who really can afford to buy a 3.5 million dollar house? The downpayment alone if its 10% is $350k That's why ppl say drugs and gangs and yadda yadda when they don't understand how our un-regulated markets operate

Ok, so let's say the person inflates the price. Where does the buyer get cash from?



You're saying a particular group of people (perhaps by birth, religion or ethnicity) are in cohesion to prevent prices from going down by keeping consistently high prices?

OR

Are you saying that no one wants to sell because they're aware of how expensive the land is and they simply put a ridiculous amount so that in the event a snapper bites they could easily acquire more/some other real estate. <--- Seems more legit than the first.

[Rooki3]

why allyuh like to use the word "greed"? what is that?

a man cud call what he wants for his possessions

greed - trini term used to supress chest bun & validate one's inability to acquire such items they had their sights on as a reason of financial constraints

[pete]

The more properties are worth, the more money to be made from the real estate agent in commission, the bank in interest and the insurance companies in premiums.

The small man now selling their house now to "make a profit" literally can't because any house they go to buy would probably have increased in value equally if not more.

[Rooki3]

Have some mediocre homes newly built up by me with asking prices of 6+million. Grades of land steep and unusable, covered property <2000sf and built on hilltop only someone with a real 4x4 or parachute could access.

I laugh every time I jog pass them.

i wudda be happy, the cost if my property jus went up

[slick]

Idk what he saying but it seems that real estate prices staying high because the money has come into the system some how and large value purchases is an easy way to do it.

[Habit7]

The laws of demand and supply dont apply when it comes to real estate in Trinidad and Tobago. Most of the prices remain inflated due to greed. Imagine the real estate market is a bit slow right now and prices are remaining high.. Neighboring Grenada and Guyana have cheaper real estate prices than we do.. While drugs and other illegal activities do infact impact on the prices I dont believe that it is the chief driver of the high prices..

Is just plain ole greed..
As for Mr. Figueroa .. his stuff is really entertaining but his analyses are sometimes a bit off and far fetched...

Yeah but Guyana has so much land that 2/3 of their country claimed by Venezuela and they don't care. And Grenada has land because they have a terrible economy and most of their citizens live abroad.

Drugs is a factor, but many would be surprised how many trinis earn +$20,000 a month.

In comparison to how many who earn ~$5,000 and actually think they're earning something decent?


I dunno where some of y'all roll but there are MANY people right here in Trinidad who are living on nothing much, especially AFTER they pay rent. I say we have much worst to come in our society before it even begins to get better.

Trinis love to cry, while there is substantial poverty in T&T, we are much better off than we think. We love to compare ourselves with US,UK and Canada, but compared to any other independent nation in the region, we doing quite well. Only Barbados and Bahamas outperforming us and they are not a 30min boat ride from Venezuela.

Car ownership in T&T proves to me that there are significant ppl in T&T that make at least $8-10,000 and could find a mate who can earn the same or even more and with that they can afford a 1.2 million dollar 4 walls and a roof which in 10 years they will expand into 5 bedroom with a larger kitchen, living room and extra bathroom.

[pioneer]

not affected btw

Inherited house and land from parents and grandparents

Traditional indian customs ftw

[eliteauto]

Car ownership in T&T proves to me that there are significant ppl in T&T that make at least $8-10,000 and could find a mate who can earn the same or even more and with that they can afford a 1.2 million dollar 4 walls and a roof which in 10 years they will expand into 5 bedroom with a larger kitchen, living room and extra bathroom.

what is the qualifying income/downpayment/installment for a car versus a house? That comparison is moot