Trinidad and Tobago declares state of emergency after multiple murders over the weekend

Trinidad and Tobago has declared a state of emergency after the spate of murders over the weekend, adding to what was already an exceptionally deadly year for the Caribbean nation, CNN reports.

Under emergency orders announced on Monday by Prime Minister Keith Rowley’s office, police will be able to search people and premises without a warrant and detain suspects for up to 48 hours in an effort to ease the conditions outlined by the leader. “Unacceptably high levels of violent crime.” However, no curfew has been imposed by the authorities.

The decision was made after several people were killed in gun violence over the weekend, bringing the murder toll in Trinidad and Tobago in 2024 to 623 – the highest level in police records dating back to 2013, CNN reports. .

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Trinidad and Tobago, with a population of 1.5 million, has the highest murder rate in the Caribbean, along with Jamaica and Haiti, while violent deaths in the region are nearly three times the global rate. . average. Police have warned that they expect the amount of gang-related violent crime involving powerful assault weapons to increase.

According to CNN report, Acting Attorney General Stuart Young, while addressing a briefing on Monday, said that there have been 61 murders so far in the month of December. These include a shooting incident on Saturday in which one person was killed by a high-powered automatic weapon outside a police station and less than 24 hours later an incident in which five people were killed in the Port of Spain area and one was injured.

Speaking at the same briefing, Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds said two people were killed on Friday – one in a gang-related incident, the other in a “domestic situation” – and 15 other people were killed in gun-related incidents. . last Monday.

Hinds said police considered the latest wave of incidents an “outburst of mass violence”, and said the military would assist in enforcing the state of emergency. Stuart Young said the use of high-caliber firearms by criminal gangs had made the recent violence particularly worrying, resulting in the declaration of a state of emergency.

“There is very little chance of survival due to the speed and capability of these weapons. This is a major concern not only for us in Trinidad and Tobago, but throughout the CARICOM region,” Young said, referring to the countries in the regional Caribbean Community group.

According to the US State Department, a large proportion of violent crime such as murders, assaults and kidnappings in Trinidad and Tobago are linked to criminal gang activity and drug trafficking. In July, the US State Department announced that its travel advisory for Trinidad and Tobago was at Level 3, advising US citizens to reconsider travel due to crime, CNN reported.

General Stuart Young said the government is in touch with the US to discuss how to control the situation as many high-powered weapons come from the US. It is noteworthy that firearms are not manufactured in Caribbean countries. However, more than 7,000 firearms were recovered from them between 2018 and 2022. According to the GAO, about three-quarters of them came from the US.