The Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago has declared a state of emergency due to a rise in deadly gang violence. The police fear an imminent escalation. A major problem is easy access to powerful firearms.
The government of the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago has declared a national emergency due to gang violence. The reason is information from the police that an escalation of retaliatory attacks with large-caliber and automatic weapons between criminal gangs is to be expected in the immediate future, said Acting Attorney General Stuart Young at a press conference.
“I have no doubt that we are dealing with an epidemic,” National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds told a news conference. The state of emergency initially applies for 15 days, but Parliament can extend it.
Trinidad and Tobago, known for its colorful carnival, has one of the highest murder rates in the world – in 2024, more than 600 murders were recorded in one year for the second time in three years. The state, which mainly consists of the two main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, has around 1.5 million inhabitants.
Easy access to weapons fuels violence
The violence is largely due to disputes between armed gangs – currently mainly between the Rasta City gangs and the Sixx, which splintered off from them. According to the specialist portal “Insight Crime”, the gangs compete for the loot from, among other things, illegal gambling, people smuggling and robberies.
Easy access to weapons fuels violence. On Sunday, five people were shot dead in Laventille, a suburb of the capital Port of Spain – in what Young said investigators suspect was a retaliation attack by one gang against another for a murder the day before.
According to Young, the emergency declaration allows police, among other things, to search people, houses and vehicles without a court order and to detain arrestees for up to two days without a warrant. The military should also be used to support the police. According to Young, there will be no curfew. According to him, the measures are aimed primarily at the illegal possession of firearms.
