SUMMARY

Trinidad and Tobago, a former British colony, was granted independence on 31 August 1962, having been administered as a single entity since the merger of the two islands in 1889.

Since 1989, Trinidad and Tobago experienced the state-based category of organized violence, as defined by UCDP.

Recorded violence

On 27 July 1990, Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical Islamist group led by Yasin Abu Bakr and composed primarily of Afro-Trinidadian Muslim converts, launched an armed coup attempt against the democratically elected government. More than 100 members of the group stormed the Red House, the country's parliament building, taking Prime Minister A.N.R. Robinson and several cabinet members hostage. Simultaneously, another faction seized control of the state television station and announced the overthrow of the government. Then Prime Minister Robinson, who was shot in the leg after instructing security forces to attack with full force, was held alongside other officials for six days. The siege resulted in 39 fatalities before the rebels surrendered on 1 August 1990, after receiving a promise of amnesty from the government. They were subsequently charged with treason but released following a court ruling.

Trinidad and Tobago experienced a significant and sustained rise in gang related violence in the decades that followed. In the aftermath of the 1990 coup, Jamaat al Muslimeen asserted considerable influence over neighborhood-based street gangs across the country. As that influence began to wane in the late 1990s, conflict arose between rival criminal organizations, and gang related violence grew considerably in scale and intensity throughout the following decades.