We have seen a huge increase over the last few years in civil unrest. Some, to an extent justified, as in Venezuela and some completely insane as in Charlottesville, yesterday (Sat).

We have never seen civil unrest here in the Cayman Islands. Long may it remain so.

Twenty years ago our MLA’s were saying there were no gangs here. Even when it was staring them in the eyes.

We have been turning around Cuban refugees. With US President Trump tightening the screws again on Cuba might we not see an increase in refugees coming here in great numbers and armed. Especially if civil unrest does increase in Cuba.

Am I speaking rubbish?

I hope I am but shouldn’t we be prepared for such an emergency?

One of our readers wrote to me on this subject recently and pointed out an example of the above after the fall of the Duvalier regime and thousands of armed Haitians flocked to Jamaica.

The reader wrote to our Deputy Governor, Franz Manderson, in January 2015 pointing this out saying “Even if a false report you are urged to initiate a planning group to for measures in the Cayman Islands as the possibility of civil unrest could lead to armed groups taking to the sea”.

The Deputy Governor wrote back saying,”Thank you. We have such a Committee and a Plan. The plan does not cover the arrival of armed illegal migrants but we will take this into consideration.”

Two years on I have not heard of such a Committee and a Plan but this may be because it has been lumped in with another of our many committees that have a name that at first read would not indicate it includes this eventuality.

With diplomats in Cuba, both Americans and Canadians now suffering from severe hearing loss that US officials believe was caused by an advanced sonic device, we are living in a new age that we only saw on the big and small screens or read in thrillers.

There is a petition circulating here against the appointment of a Muslim governor and there could be a demonstration(s) if it gets whipped up especially in social media.

Pray this does not happen. All labelled Christians do not act out their Christianity as peaceful and loving to ALL men no matter what colour, religion, sexual preference, etc. The vast majority of Muslims are not terrorists.

Does anyone really think a British Muslim diplomat would be sitting behind his desk in the Cayman Islands planning anything against our Islands’ Christian heritage and beliefs?

In the UK, London has a Muslim Mayor. Did he perpetrate the Grenfell Tower Block disaster? It was the result of other factors to be determined by an inquiry. And money will be the root of it.

And isn’t money, or lack of it for the poor, the main reason for civil unrest? With no food to feed hungry mouths and persons, like the White Supremacy groups and from the opposite corner the ISIS terrorists, they light the touch papers and sow their seeds of hate.

We had an election here that was 100% peaceful but the language and pre-election promises and monetary handouts were anything but Christian.

Statistics from our experts would indicate that violent civil unrest is unlikely here. A recent study presented at the Royal Economic Society’s annual conference in Brighton by Dr Christa Brunnschweiler, a senior lecturer in economics at UEA, who conducted the research with Dr Päivi Lujala, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said “on average richer and more democratic countries tend to engage more in non-violent movements for political change than in violent ones”.

However, this does not allow for the outside influences – armed waves of migrants.

Don’t say civil unrest cannot happen here?

Not today.

Tomorrow is a different era……