Trinidad Extends State of Emergency

(Dive Travel Business News - Sept 6, 2011) -- In an effort to combat drug-related violence, Trinidad has extended its sate of emergency (SOE) and curfew for three more months. A nightly 8-hour curfew was first imposed on Aug 21, 2011 in direct response to a wave of violent crime linked to drug trafficking that included the murder of 11 people over a 48-hour period. Government security forces had already been fighting the illegal drug trade, that culminated in a multi- million-dollar bust at the island's international airport in last month. 

Trinidad is a major transhipment point of cocaine. Colombian and Mexican drug dealers who had been fighting for drug turf locally were set to go on a bloodbath, following the seizure of cocaine worth $22 million at Piarco International Airport on August 16, five days before the declaration of the state of emergency.

The cocaine reportedly belonged to a Colombian drug dealer whose associates were reported to be in Trinidad with the intention of executing Mexican drug lords based there and an Aranjuez drug dealer who works for the Mexicans. The Aranjuez drug dealer reportedly tipped off the police about the suitcases of cocaine which were to be shipped to the US. Both the Colombians and Mexicans reportedly entered the country by boat with sophisticated weapons.

Intelligence sources said that when they were informed that both Colombian and Mexican drug lords were in the country, US authorities advised that the borders be placed under lockdown and that the state of emergency be put in place.

Since the SOE came into effect, Trinidadian authorities say 1,356 people have been detained but, to date, no one has yet been brought before the three-member tribunal established to review their cases. According to a statement from Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. the state of emergency "has so far averted a criminal uprising of untold proportions."  The curfew has since been revised, and is now in effect from 11 p.m to 4 a.m. in major cities and towns throughout Trinidad.

Adding to the SOE is controversy around its envokement. The National Workers Union (NWU) said that the government was using the state of emergency as a pretext for an "assault on freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom of movement and freedom of expression". Nineteen Trinidadian trade unions had been planning a nationwide strike, and accused the Kamla Persad Bissessar administration of refusing to lift a five-percent cap on wages in its negotiations with public service workers. Union leaders have accused the government of using the SOE to "kill two birds with one stone".

The Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association reminds visitors that the popular dive destination is not under a curfew. "The association wants to reconfirm that there is no curfew in Tobago, unlike certain areas in Trinidad. Businesses here are continuing to operate as normal. The movement of visitors and residents on Tobago is not restricted in any way."

Additional Sources:
http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/trinidad_tobago_news/501608.h...
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,146823.html

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