Trinidad and Tobago declares state of emergency amid rising violence

The president of Trinidad and Tobago declared a state of emergency on Monday due to a rise in criminal activity, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.

The dual-island Caribbean nation off the coast of Venezuela is experiencing “heightened criminal activity which endangers the public safety,” the prime minister’s office said, following advice from the police service.

According to a report in The Guardian, the country’s murder rate climbed to 623 for the year. The report said the decision was made after a weekend of shootings that have brought the Caribbean nation to a breaking point.

As per the report, five men were shot overnight in an estate on the outskirts of the capital, Port of Spain, and a 57-year-old woman was killed on Friday while collecting her son from a hospital in San Fernando.

With a population of 1.5 million, Trinidad and Tobago now ranks as one of the most violent countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to news publication’s analysis of the 2024 murder statistics. The unprecedented number of killings this year has put a spotlight on the escalating crime problem.

The state of emergency, announced by Prime Minister Keith Rowley’s office, reportedly grants both the police and army expanded powers to address the crisis. Under the new measures, security forces have the authority to detain individuals without charge and search properties without warrants.

Prime Minister Keith Rowley expressed disappointment over the murder rate in Trinidad and Tobago for 2024, urging the police to use their expanded powers to make life “uncomfortable” for criminals.

At a press conference in Port of Spain, Attorney General Stuart Young clarified that there would be no public curfew at this time. Young explained that the emergency measures had been implemented in response to a week of “brazen acts” by criminals, and that authorities expected a wave of reprisal attacks on such a scale that it poses a significant threat to public safety.

He was quoted as saing, “What we are faced with was heightened criminal activity with the use of high-velocity assault weapons in reprisal attacks between gangs. “It’s not about culling the homicide rate, it’s about expecting brazen acts which are going to endanger the public,” he said.

Tobago House of Assembly Deputy Chief Secretary Faith Brebnor said, as per As per Trinidan & Tobago Guardian, the government waited too long to declare a state of emergency, as murders in Trinidad and Tobago have reached record levels.

“I honestly don’t know because it seems like we waited until the thing had gone too far before doing anything meaningful,” Brebnor told Guardian Media in an immediate response.

She also slammed the Prime Minister, particularly since he is head of the National Security Council, saying, “I guess the Prime Minister, as head of the National Security Council having seen the trends from the beginning of the year, only now realises that we are in a difficult stitch, which is disappointing and it definitely shows a quality of his leadership.”