Trinidad declares state of emergency to fight crime

The government has clamped a limited form of emergency rule on Trinidad and Tobago in a bid to halt a surge in violent crime linked to the drug trade in the oil-rich Caribbean country.

Speaking at a press conference last night at her private residence, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the decision was taken after much deliberation. The measure will be reviewed daily “based on how and what is achieved”, she said, noting that the law provides for the limited state of emergency to be in place up to 15 days before extensions are sought from the House of Representatives.

The decision followed Persad-Bissessar’s meeting with the National Security Council and a special Cabinet session which lasted several hours. She said the limited state of emergency will help government “achieve a number of things” which she felt would not be prudent to disclose.

Persad-Bissessar linked the crime spree in the southern Caribbean nation to recent drug seizures and to violent reprisals against a crackdown by police on the use of Trinidad as a transshipment point for South American cocaine headed to Europe and the United States.

The bloodletting included the killing of 11 people over the weekend, Persad-Bissessar added, saying that helped trigger her decision to give the police and military emergency powers.

“I do not believe that any one of us can continue to wake up every morning to see the blood of our children on the soil of our land, and so there comes a time I believe in the history of a nation where we have to take very strong action,” the prime minister said in her nationally televised announcement.

Authorities last imposed a state of emergency in Trinidad and Tobago in July 1990 when members of a local extremist Muslim group, Jamaat al Muslimeen, staged a coup attempt.

“Our objective primarily is to eliminate crime,” National Security Minister John Sandy told a news conference on Monday, as he spoke about emergency measures that include the suspension of some constitutional guarantees.

“We are going after gang members who have been using firearms to murder our citizens at will. We are going after the drug traffickers, we are looking to get these weapons off the streets,” he said.