SUMMARY
On 27 July 1990, the Trinidadian parliament building was stormed in a coup attempt by insurgents from the Jamaat al-Muslimeen. 46 hostages were taken including the Prime Minister and most of the Cabinet. The rebels also took over the television station, which they used to broadcast their demands for the Prime Minister to resign. The siege lasted for five days during which over 30 people were killed and 500 wounded. The conflict ended when the rebels surrendered on 1 August 1990.
IN DEPTH
Roots of conflict in Trinidad and Tobago
The UK conquered Trinidad from the Spaniards in 1797. Tobago was colonized by the Dutch already in 1628 and they remained in control of it until the British took possession in 1762. In 1889, Trinidad and Tobago became one administrative unit. Along with most other British Caribbean colonies, Trinidad and Tobago joined the Federation of the West Indies in 1958. However, when Jamaica left in 1961, Trinidad and Tobago also withdrew, reluctant to take financial responsibility for the other, at that time, poorer islands. The federation thus collapsed and shortly thereafter, on 31 August 1961, Trinidad and Tobago declared independence. Elective politics in Trinidad and Tobago has mostly run along racial lines. Peoples National Movement (PNM), founded in 1956, was mainly urban and Afro-Trinidadian, with some backing from Muslim and Christian Indians. Its early opponent, the Democratic Labour Party (DPL) was based in the Hindu section of the Indian-origin community. The Black Power movement, influenced to some extent by African-American radicalism, came to prominence on the islands in 1970 and became PNMs strongest challenge during this period. In 1970 there were some violent demonstrations and a state of emergency was declared as junior army officers tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the government. Jamaat al-Muslimeen was formed in the early 1980s when tensions between Afro-Trinididans and Indo-Trinididians were high and the economic situation bad. The core questions for the new organisation were social justice, racism, poverty and the government’s corruption.
The coup attempt in 1990
On 27 July 1990 a group of insurgents from the Jamaat al-Muslimeen stormed the parliament building in a coup attempt during a session of the House of Representatives. The group, which is a sect of mainly Afro-Trinidadian Muslim converts, was led by Yasin Abu Bakr, a former Trinidad policeman who is said to be an admirer of the Libyan leader Colonel Moammar Quaddafi. 46 hostages were taken including the Prime Minister Arthur Raymond Robinson and most of the Cabinet. They blew up the police building and took over the television station, which they used to broadcast their demands that the Prime Minister should resign, and that Deputy Prime Minister Winston Dookeran should lead an interim government into elections within 90 days. The rebels accused the government of being corrupt and causing widespread poverty in the country. The siege lasted for 5 days during which over 30 people were killed and 500 wounded, most of them looters shot by the police. The rebels shot the Prime Minister in the leg after he refused to sign a letter of resignation. The acting President, Joseph Emmanuel Carter, was induced to sign an amnesty for the rebels.
The Prime Minister admitted that he had signed a document agreeing to the rebel demands. The security forces, however, did not accept the validity of the contract. The rebels surrendered unconditionally on 1 August, and 25 hostages were released from the television station and another 17 (including Cabinet Ministers) were released from the parliamentary building (called the Red House). 120 rebels faced charges of treason, a capital offence. They were released from the charges in 1992 and were awarded a compensation for damage done to their headquarters.
Abu Bakr continued to be an important and powerful person in Trinidad and Tobago, although Jamaat al-Muslimeen became more of a criminal group than a political one. In recent years, Jamaat al-Muslimeen has been involved in violence and organized crime and Abu Bakr has been facing a series of charges.
