 |
| An ecological tragedy averted. Al Momento |
Igor Rusurusov, a Russian national who landed at Punta Cana airport, was apprehended with 12 giant cockroaches, according to Al Momento, a major Caribbean news site.
Al Momento wrote that the roaches were members of the species Gromphadorhina portentosa, native to Madagascar and made famous in 1977 by the cult-hit film Damnation Alley, which presented them as "armor-plated" post-apocalyptic killers.
Although the roaches are not particularly dangerous, their large size and hissing sound would have had a deep psychological effect on a people inexperienced with exotic animals, and on an island where non are poisonous. The Gromphadorhina portentosa has been featured extensively in Hollywood horror films, thus making them a potent psychological weapon.
Beyond Damnation Alley, the roach was featured in Starship Troopers and Men in Black, and has already begun causing panic in the Dominican Republic, even though all were intercepted at the airport.
One commenter on Al Momento wrote: "Those roaches were sent to destroy Dominican tourism, so that they could reproduce and become a plague."
Most commenters agreed with that assessment, and one brought up the death of Anatolii Platov, who was found decapitated in a resort in Bavaro, Mr. Rusurusov's ultimate destination. There were reports that Mr. Platov was a Russian secret agent, and that his suspicious death was not a suicide.
Abreu Report wrote last month: "This
cover-up was not an accident, police were instructed from higher-up to
bury Mr. Platov's death and make it go away, according to a source in
the Dominican government who spoke on condition of anonymity with Abreu
Report.
According
to information revealed to Abreu Report, Mr. Platov was under
surveillance the minute he landed in Bavaro. Mr. Platov was being
followed by two individuals described as 'not Dominican, definitely
French.'"
Some have hypothesized that this attempt to flood the Dominican Republic with giant roaches was retribution for Mr. Platov's death.
The Caribbean is no stranger to biological warfare, as the CIA has in the past released swine flu and Newcastle disease in Cuba in order to cripple the government of former strongman Fidel Castro.
It is unclear if the roaches carried by Mr. Rusurusov were infected with a deadly agent, but their mere introduction into the delicate ecosystem of the island of Hispaniola could have had catastrophic consequences for the entire region.
