Robinson's nephew urges government: Review 1990 coup attempt

THE NEPHEW of late President ANR Robinson says the government should reflect on the events that led to the July 27, 1990 attempted coup in order to prevent a recurrence.

Retired Commander of the TT Cadet Force Ellis Robinson spoke after a wreath-laying ceremony at his late uncle’s gravesite in Bacolet, Tobago, on July 25.

The event commemorated the 34th anniversary of the attempted insurrection.

ANR Robinson, a Tobagonian, was the prime minister and political leader of the National Alliance for Reconstruction when armed Jamaat Al Muslimeen insurgents stormed the Parliament Chamber of the Red House, Port of Spain.

During the attack, Robinson was shot in the leg and a Cabinet minister, Leo Des Vignes, was also wounded and died subsequently at hospital. There were numerous other deaths and several people in the public gallery were injured.

Commenting on the worsening crime situation, Ellis said although the country has improved its crime-fighting strategies, criminals have also become more intelligent.

“To any succeeding government, that is something you need to study, because if you don’t understand what fell down there (the attempted coup) then you could very well make that same mistake and this time, it is going to be worse.

“Yes, the army and the police are more equipped, better equipped with weapons than they were in 1990, but the bandits and illegal firearms are way more complex and they are way more prevalent on the streets of Tobago.

"So it is something that we have to pay heed to. It is something that we need to study.”

Innovative Democratic Alliance (IDA) political leader Dr Denise Tsoiafatt Angus also lamented the crime situation in Tobago.

She attributed the development, in part, to the island’s declining economy.

“With the declining economy, we are seeing rising crime and murders across the country and moreso in Tobago. This is the first time that Tobago has experienced such a surge in crime,” Tsoiafatt Angus said. “We have never seen this level of crime in Tobago, murders as we are seeing now, and so you have to ask yourself, ‘Are they linked?’”

She said everyone has a part to play in reducing murders and violent crime, noting that children are not born criminals but are moulded into criminals by their environment and circumstances.

“Crime is not just the government, the police. It is about all of us. Children are not born criminals. They grow to be criminals, and therefore we have some responsibility from birth to adulthood as to how we all contribute to stemming that.”

Tobago has to date recorded 16 murders or 2024.

Former Red House hostage Wendell Eversley, who stages an annual walk to commemorate the event, said the attempted coup was still fresh in his mind.

He recalled then Minister of National Security Joseph Toney was contributing to debate when the Muslimeen entered the Red House.

“The next thing I hear is one set of gunshots. To me, it sounded like firecrackers, on the eve of New Year’s and not knowing it was getting closer and closer and then men barging in the Parliament chamber shooting and bawling, ‘Where Robinson, where Robinson?’” he said.

“That Friday was the most horrible day in my life. Is something I will never, never forget.

"I remember throwing myself on the floor, putting a chair over me and while I putting the chair over me, the people who was in the public gallery, trampling to come out. Some trampled on my legs and I keep bawling, ‘Oh gosh, oh gosh!’”