Major US Think Tank Claims Gangs Are The ‘New Law’ In Urban T&T

WASHINGTON, D.C. CMC – A major think tank here, claims gangs are the “new law” in urban Trinidad and Tobago, saying that recent incidents of intense violence in the twin-island republic have drawn attention to the “rampant gang problem.”

In a new report, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) said  the September 11 “ruthless beheading” of a man—reported by the police as a warning from gang members—“exemplified a recent increase in the already significant brutality of gang activity in Port-of-Spain”.

“There is now a trend towards this so-called ‘South American method of warfare,’ in which beheadings and other extreme forms of violence are the norm in dealing with rival gangs and in which only 14.3 percent of Trinidad and Tobago’s youth is confident in its satisfaction with the police force,” it said.

Additionally, COHA noted that mid-August saw an incident in which six people were killed in a 24-hour period in a “turf war that drew the level of attention and press focus usually reserved for gang activity in more developed countries.”

COHA claimed that gang activity in Caribbean nations has “largely been ignored, despite the fact that gangs in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago have become so ubiquitous that they represent a challenge to state sovereignty.”

It said that the government’s decision to “simply amp up the police force is not likely to hinder Trinidad’s persistent gang presence.

“Violence is a serious problem in the islands, but targeting this alone will not make an effective reform,” it said, adding that “gangs in Trinidad and Tobago, specifically in high-risk areas, like the capital and Laventville, “have become so institutionalized that they pose a threat to—and even control in some cases—the republic’s crucial infrastructures.”

COHA said that gangs in the Caribbean, namely in Trinidad and Jamaica, have a “very unusual and ultimately far more dangerous effect on their surrounding areas.”

It said, regardless of their size, all forms of gangs in Trinidad and Tobago are more pervasive than those to be found in developed nations and have now become societal institutions that go beyond social purposes, “and are coming to resemble governments in and of themselves.”

The think tank said there are currently over 100 gangs in Trinidad and Tobago, which has a total population of just over 1,300,000.

In the absence of an “adequate legal system,” COHA said gangs in Trinidad and Tobago “outsource their justice in situations as trivial as parents disciplining their children”.

According to COHA, the gangs of Trinidad and Tobago have “infiltrated the official government and created an alternative administration—at least in urban centers—of violence and strict order, lacking any semblance of ethics or ability to address welfare.”

It said the structure provided by the highly organized gangs may hint at a “mafia-esque, white collar type of crime, tending to be detrimental mostly to business owners.”

Besides their alleged violent acts, COHA charged that the organizations “take from the needy and control legitimate programs intended to help Trinidad and Tobago’s populace as a whole.”

It charged that the Government of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has been unable to “effectively deal with” gang activity, adding that legislation passed by the government to fight local crime, such as the Anti-Gang Act of 2011, “has proven to be ineffective.”

COHA also urged the Trinidad Tobago Government to address other internal security-related issues, “like police violence and excessive arrests, or choose to innovate on their past action.

“As it now stands, gangs have a stronger hold on the Trinidadian population than its government does,” it said.