Noble: Is Gov’t handling of SoE trivialising T&T’s crime reality?

Over the last ten days, I missed BC Pires. He would understand how to explain what has been going on in my beloved country.

Vidia Naipaul is also not here, so he cannot update his famed The Mimic Men. Here is one of his quotes from that novel:

“[…] We, here on our island, handling books printed in this world, and using its goods, had been abandoned and forgotten.

“We pretended to be real, to be learning, to be preparing ourselves for life, we mimic men of the New World, one unknown corner of it, with all its reminders of the corruption that came so quickly to the new…”

The loss of calypsonians who could deliver lyrics that describe our society shows our decay. But then the iconic Chalkdust’s Chauffeur popped up. Help! Chalkie needs to put on his boots since that song, too, needs updating.

Now it is not the leader of NAR, ANR Robinson, who cannot drive. Not even Mr Livewire made an appearance. So let me try to explain what is going on.

Our brand-new police commissioner, Mr Allister Guevarro, was suitably startled by the threat of a ‘crime syndicate’ operating out of the Maximum Security Prison.  He is cut from a different cloth than his predecessors: he appears very comfortable and able to relax with the members of the media.

The duty of announcing that the country was once again under a state of emergency fell to him. Why?

He, in his role, looks after the operational aspects of such a situation. To the best of our knowledge, he is not a politician. It is the duty of our politicians, particularly the Prime Minister, to inform the nation of this political decision.

His focus was clear: he was not dealing with the recent upsurge in crime; he was chasing after the big ‘fish’, who threatened to upturn the society.

The Attorney General eventually roused himself in the afternoon to meet the media. This is when things went awry.

“[…] The Government has been vigilant to take note of certain disturbing trends in the society of recent moment. In particular, we are conscious that there have been 213 homicides so far in the year and that just this last week, we have had some truly horrific crimes that have taken place.

“Most of the criminal activity, we are advised, is gang-related…”

He continued by supporting the initial argument of Mr Guevarro. Is it that he was more concerned with his party’s claim:

“Every time the PNM comes in power, the murder rate increases. Something about the PNM governance leads to increased murders in Trinidad and Tobago”, and therefore was eager to put the crime surge to rest?

Or was it that his inner thoughts were more pressing than Mr Guevarro’s concern?

He then informed the press corps: “I could assure you that the Prime Minister was on the phone with me after midnight last night and several times during the course of the early morning.

“And when I spoke to her less than two hours ago, she had not slept for at least one night and possibly two. I asked her to go and sleep.”

When was Mrs Bissessar briefed? If it were two nights prior, then the Minister of Homeland Security is possibly not a member of the National Security Council. He had counselled women the evening before the announcement about their choice of men.

Is he, too, a Mimic Man? He was then promising a possible crime plan.

But not one member of the media asked why they could not have gone to Mrs Bissessar for the press briefing. (Mr Guevarro got them to traipse up to Rampanalgas at 6.30pm a few days after to discuss the freeing of a hostage!)

The limitation of our freedom seemingly did not require the media to go anywhere, nor did it necessitate asking any piercing questions about accessibility to the Prime Minister.

It is easier to have a press conference in Port of Spain. Mimic Men vibes.

Then our esteemed AG entered the realm of fantasy. Either he was joking, or he took the media for lambs with pens, when he tried to assure them that everything was under control:

“[…] Half of the building has not been destroyed by a rocket launcher should tell you that we have succeeded in disrupting a plan…”

The size of the rocket launcher needed to destroy his office requires more than a bazooka. Was he referring to a HIMARS-sized equipment? Was he adding the Customs department to the corruption in the armed services (which Guevarro alluded to)?

Should we be frightened because the whereabouts of said launcher is still unknown, but in the hands of domestic or international terrorists?

To have good self-government, we need self-respect. The seriousness of the office held by Mr Jeremie escaped him.

Mr Jeremie should also be aware that there are concerns, beyond security, about a state of emergency. It fell to Minister of Planning, Economic Affairs and Development, Kennedy Swaratsingh, to affirm that the state of emergency would not disrupt business activity or impact investor confidence—whether on the domestic, regional or international level.

However, this assertion was not supported by the data that followed the 2024 State of Emergency, which also had no curfew in place. The Central Statistical Office (CSO) noted a 21 per cent decrease in sales in the first quarter of 2025.

The volume of sales also dropped by 21.3 per cent, owing to a reduction in sales for clothing, appliances, furniture and motor vehicles according to the CSO’s Retail Sales Index.

Senator Marlene Attzs, a UWI economist, said the impact is not only seen in the dollars and cents but also on investor confidence and the appeal of Trinidad and Tobago’s market.

The TT Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) noted fear of crime did have some effect on the attendance of the 2025 Trade and Investment Convention—the event at which Minister Swaratsingh spoke.

The analysis of countries that declared a state of emergency shows that such action brings immediate operational, political, and media benefits, but few promised results.

Edward Holfman, an academic and security analyst, opined that the measure is perceived as the only option because “governments don’t have a real citizen security policy”.

It allows them to show the population “that they are taking drastic measures” and reinforces an iron fist approach to a society that “wants to feel safe no matter what”. Mamaguy stuff.

The Government’s handling trivialises the grim reality of our situation. The key actors appear to have erased from their minds the attempted 1990 coup.

Are they only seeing the criminal upsurge over many years as an assault on their political base? It is not.

If our delegation had stayed for the final day of the Caricom meeting in Montego Bay, they would have heard Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ speech about crime:

“A July 2024 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime entitled Caribbean Gangs: Drugs, Firearms, and Gang Networks in Jamaica, St Lucia, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago points to a worrying combination of risk factors, including surging drug production in South America, the proliferation and competition of transnational and local gangs, and the high availability and use of firearms that have contributed to soaring homicide rates.

“If the situation in Haiti is an indicator, these are not ordinary times, and they require urgent action. We must dismantle the influence of gangs in our communities, disrupt their financing, and cut off access to weapons.

“But I believe our society and the way in which we think about crime and violence needs to evolve to accept and understand the evolved nature of the challenge we face.

“And the truth is that what we are now facing is the organisation of violence. It is the organisation of violence for profit. It is not merely street-level dispossessed or socially excluded youngsters.

“There is a level of intelligence, a level of resources, and a level of organisation that has been brought to crime, and violence is being used to support a profit motive. And my own view is that policy and jurisprudence need to evolve to address this matter.

“As I said, the situation in Haiti is only an example that we should look at very carefully.”

In 2024, Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith, a senior associate at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and a founding fellow of the Caribbean Policy Consortium, wrote a book titled Challenged Sovereignty.

In it, he wrote about the concept of “Problems Without Passports” (PWPs), defined as “transnational issues that disdain political authority and territorial boundaries of states and threaten the safety and security of individuals and groups within states, thereby impacting the sovereignty of states.”

He cited the case of the Jamaican drug lord Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, which the author calls “history-defining in terms of the scope of violence, the extent of the deaths and destruction of property, and the political fallout”.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding lost the government because of that. He reminds us that Trinidad had the highest recruitment figures for ISIS in the Western Hemisphere.

We are pretending to be real tough. Our crime is not local. Stand your ground advocates do not realise that there are serious guys out there.

Our Homeland Security Minister has been considering an option. But the touted El Salvador solution is not readily suitable.

The nation of 6.4 million is run as a police state: soldiers and police officers routinely whisk citizens off the streets and into prison indefinitely without providing a reason or allowing them access to a lawyer.

But that is not the only part. Corrupt police will not go against the gangs: Honduras is an example.

ProPublica, a well-known independent media outlet, conducted an in-depth examination of El Salvador and the US support for its efforts against criminal enterprises. This is a long but necessary read for anyone interested in El Salvador’s ‘success’ story.

The short version?

“The Bukele Government adopted a more sophisticated bargaining strategy, according to current and former US and Salvadoran officials.

“During secret meetings in prisons and other sites, the president’s emissaries offered MS-13 leaders political power and financial incentives if they lowered the homicide rate and marshalled support for the Nuevas Ideas party, according to current and former US and Salvadoran officials and court documents.”

Does this resemble what we have seen before in our country?

What Commissioner Guevarro is up against is a dire situation. He should be careful.

ProPublica noted: “At least eight senior Salvadoran law enforcement and judicial officials fled El Salvador for the United States and elsewhere.” The politicians can set you up.

Guevarro needs to drop the ‘Punisher’ logo since it has a negative connotation when used by the Police.

The character’s creator, Gerry Conway, said: “The vigilante anti-hero is fundamentally a critique of the justice system, an example of social failure, so when cops put Punisher skulls on their cars or members of the military wear Punisher skull patches, they’re basically [siding] with an enemy of the system. They are embracing an outlaw mentality.

“Whether you think the Punisher is justified or not, whether you admire his code of ethics, he is an outlaw. He is a criminal. Police should not be embracing a criminal as their symbol.”

Guevarro does not need that.

He should avoid adopting one of his predecessor’s positions. Five police-related killings in five days?

“He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster… if thou gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze into you.” (Friedrich Nietzsche, 1886.)

“The tragedy of power like mine is that there is no way down.  There can only be extinction. Dust to dust; rags to rags; fear to fear.” (The Mimic Men.)

This applies to politicians and our Commissioner alike.

Will we do what is necessary or continue to pretend?