Trinidad and Tobago issues second state of emergency due to gang menace

Trinidad and Tobago has announced its second state of emergency this year due to “serious worries” regarding a coordinated threat from organized crime groups within and beyond the nation’s prisons.

On Friday, police commissioner Allister Guevarro announced that his department had received intelligence the previous day indicating that the gangs had “constituted themselves into … an organized crime syndicate” and were determined to cause chaos while plotting assassinations, robberies, and kidnappings.

He verified that officials had begun transferring specific gang leaders from the prison system to a different facility to address the threat.  “There are persons who seem hellbent on facilitating the communication of these persons with the outside,” he said. “So by removing them from this environment and placing them in one where they are much more secure, I can feel rest assured that communication link is broken.”

He did not verify if any member of the protective services was part of the syndicate. Despite Friday’s announcement, Guevarro maintained that there had not been a recent increase in crime, describing the pre-emptive measure as a component of a wider strategy formulated in collaboration with the homeland security minister.

The Caribbean nation of two islands, with a population nearing 1.5 million, has faced challenges due to increasing homicides and gang-related violence for over ten years. The previous year, it logged 624 homicides, establishing itself as one of the most violent nations in Latin America and the Caribbean. In May this year, regional media indicated a 33% drop in comparison to the same timeframe in 2024 and 2023.

However, the nation’s attorney general, John Jeremie, stated on Friday that there has been a rise in gang-related murders and abductions. In response to a question regarding the duration of the state of emergency, he stated it would last “as long as the security forces indicate that they require the extra legislative assistance.”

The conditions of the ongoing state of emergency reflect those of one declared in December 2024 and prolonged for three months in January of this year. No curfew exists, allowing citizens to move freely. Law enforcement officials now possess greater authority, including the option to access properties without a warrant.

The former Trinidad and Tobago police commissioner Gary Griffith called the declaration “ridiculous” and said the issue could have been resolved with better prison management.

“There was a situation where there was a major criminal element in the Port of Spain prison, and three times in 24 hours, we seized a phone from that individual. As soon as we seized the phone, he got another one – because of prison officers on the take,” he said.