Trinidad and Tobago has declared a state of emergency after the nation saw a record-breaking 623 murders in just one year of bloodshed.
The president of the tiny Caribbean nation, Christine Carla Kangaloo, made the declaration on Monday due to an explosive 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.
Trinidad and Tobago has one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a record number of murders totaling over 620 this year so far in a population of 1.5million.
Under the emergency powers announced by the office of the prime minister, Keith Rowley, the police and army now have complete authority to detain individuals without charge and search properties without warrants.
In a defiant statement, Rowley said he was disappointed with the murder tally for 2024 and appealed to the nation’s police to use their newly bestowed powers to make life ‘uncomfortable’ for criminals.
However, at a press conference in Port of Spain, the attorney general, Stuart Young, said no public curfew would be imposed at this time.
Young said the measures had been implemented as a result of a worrying week of ‘brazen acts’ by criminals across the country, but that there was only ‘limited assurances’ he could offer to the concerned public.
Trinidad and Tobago has declared a state of emergency after the nation saw a record-breaking 623 murders in just one year of bloodshed (file image of Trinidad and Tobago soldiers)
The president of the tiny Caribbean nation, Christine Carla Kangaloo, made the declaration on Monday due to an explosive rise in criminal activity, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office (file image of soldiers in Port of Spain, Trinidad)
‘What we are faced with was heightened criminal activity with the use of high-velocity assault weapons in reprisal attacks between gangs,’ he said.
‘It’s not about culling the homicide rate, it’s about expecting brazen acts which are going to endanger the public,’ he added, while admitting that the past decade of the government’s tenure had seen crime rates rise.
President Kangaloo chimed in, saying: ‘I am satisfied that a public emergency has risen as a result of the occurrence of action that has been taken or is immediately threatened by a person, of such a nature and on so extensive a scale, as to be likely to endanger the public safety.’
Organised crime in the twin-island republic is responsible for the majority of the murders, many of which are linked to the international drug trade.
Police have estimated that around 42.6 per cent of all killings are gang-related.
According to the US state department, the country’s close proximity to Venezuela and its direct transportation links to Europe and North America make it a ‘prime location for narcotics trans-shipment’.
In its latest violent incident, five men were gunned down overnight in a shop on the outskirts of the capital, Port of Spain, which police believed was linked to the killing of a prominent gang leader the day before.
The gang member was killed outside of a police station on Saturday.
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 (file image of Trinidadian police officers inspecting rifles they found buried)
And on Friday, a 57-year-old woman was shot dead while she collected her teenage son from a hospital in San Fernando.
Details of the state of emergency are yet to be disclosed, but ‘the regulations will be communicated shortly,’ a Government spokesperson said.
The move comes as Trinidad and Tobago readies itself for a general election, which has a deadline of August 2025.
The last state of emergency declared in the dual-island nation was in May 2021 to allow for restrictions during the Covid19 pandemic.
The state of emergency ended in November 2021.