Squatters, cops clash over demolished homes in La Horquetta

What began as an exercise by the office of the Commissioner of State Lands to demolish squatters’ houses in Ramjattan Trace, off Tumpuna Road in La Horquetta, ended with police being called to MP Foster Cummings’s office as angry residents gathered demanding answers.

On February 6, representatives of the commissioner’s office descended on the area around 7 am with police.

Police ushered people out of their houses before knocking down the structures, most of which were wooden, using an excavator.

This led to a clash between the residents and police, as they said officers were rough, uncaring and even outright violent in some instances.

A woman said police hit her three-year-old son in the head with a gun butt.

After police left, residents gathered in the shade of a coconut tree to debate their next move. Still angry, they decided to walk the 2 km to Cummings’s office at the La Horquetta Village Plaza.

They accused him of reneging on his promises.

“He has to give us some kind of answers. He came here and promised us lights, water and roads in the past. Now today we wake up and this is what we have to go through?

“That can’t be right, man!”

The residents, still outraged, converged on Cummings’ office around noon.

Two women working there saw the crowd approaching and quickly locked the gate before hustling into the office and closing the door.

Residents stood outside shouting as they accused Cummings and his staff of hiding from them.

Cummings was not at the office, having earlier attended a plant handing-over ceremony at a youth agricultural project in Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas.

The residents continued shouting and said the demolition of their houses could have political consequences.

“You hiding now, but you will want us to come out and vote for you. See if we don’t hide then too,” they shouted, before eventually chanting, “UNC, UNC, UNC!”

Police showed up minutes later and told the residents they had received a call about a group of people behaving in a disorderly way in front of Cummings’ office.

They eventually defused the situation by addressing the residents and speaking with the staff and facilitating a meeting between them.

The residents were asked to send three representatives to speak with the office supervisor.

They said the supervisor listened to their complaints before taking their names and phone numbers and committing to contact them “in some days,” to tell them when Cummings would be available.

One of the representatives, Amika Leera, said she believed that, too, was an empty promise.

“That is just lip service again. We went through this already.

“We asked her how long before she call us and she said she don’t know. They ain't even give us a letter or anything.”

She said they intend to return to Cummings’s office if they are not contacted within a week.

Residents dispute HDC claims

The Housing Development Corporation (HDC), in a statement that day, said the operation was “decisive action to address illegal squatting” at the site.

It said the demolition was part of ongoing efforts to remove unlawful occupants from the land and added that 20 structures at the site were demolished in October 2024.

Corporate communications manager Kimberly De Souza said the occupants of 12 additional structures were warned they needed to vacate their property by January 2025.

Last week, the residents blocked the entrance to the community with piles of debris as they expected the demolition to take place.

“Two signs were also erected in the vicinity and notices were placed on the 12 structures. The notices stated that the occupants were given notice to vacate the property by January 27, 2025. On that day the Commissioner of State Lands did not go, which means the illegal occupants were given an additional nine days to vacate the premises.”

The residents claimed the notice to vacate did not have the letterhead of a state agency or government ministry, but was signed, “By Order of the Commissioner of State Lands.”

“We didn’t know if it was somebody trying to take the land for themselves or something. And it had no number to call for us to even find out if it was real or fake,” said a resident.

HDC suggested it was able to determine, through the use of technology, that the residents were not eligible to occupy the land through adverse possession.

Adverse possession laws require a squatter to have been occupying the land for a continuous 16-year period for privately-owned land, or 30 years for state-owned land.

“Recent satellite imagery confirmed that many of these structures were either newly built or still under construction.

“Notably, five structures marked for removal were built between 2018 and 2023, one was constructed between 2014 and 2018, and six were erected between 2018 and 2023.”

HDC said the land has also been the subject of investigations into claims of fraud.

“Authorities have also been made aware of fraudulent activities, such as individuals unlawfully selling portions of state land and collecting money from unsuspecting persons.

“Investigations are under way to address these illegal transactions and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Residents, though, deny the HDC claims and say some of them have living been there for decades.

“Them lying,” said a shirtless man ,who claimed he was unable to grab a jersey before his house was demolished.

“I living here since I small, and I in my forties now.

“I was a little boy running up and down in here and they want to tell me about how I now come here!”

A woman nearby chimed in to say she had been living there for as long as she could remember.

“My parents move here and I was born here. Look my mother’s house right over there,” as she pointed to a house that seemingly escaped the excavator’s wrath.

Plans to rebuild

Newsday asked the residents where they intended to spend the night and about their long-term accommodation plans.

Some said they “have no idea,” while two people said they were speaking with friends and relatives to find somewhere to stay, but only because they did not want their children to be uncomfortable.

The rest said they would rebuild at the same spot until they could find somewhere else to go.

A man who gave his name as Ted Brown was seen rummaging through the rubble of one of the demolished houses.

He took out the nails from the roof before laying the pieces of galvanise and wood in carefully stacked heaps.

“My next move is to build back this. Maybe a one-room something, because plenty of them pieces of wood I can’t use again. So I will just use what I can.

“This is real unfair, because I have nowhere to go tonight, and when the children come home they have homework and thing to do. They in school now, but where they going and sleep tonight?”

The residents said they are willing to be moved to HDC apartments and pay rent there instead.

Some other people living in nearby houses who witnessed the demolition say they are now scared.

They said while they received no notice to vacate, they do not trust the officials overseeing the demolition.

“When they came last year to demolish the other houses, they didn’t tell everybody who lose their house today that they needed to leave. Some didn’t know until they see the notice a few weeks ago. So I don't believe them when they tell me today that I don't have to worry.”

Shadow housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal said the government and HDC should seek a “humane solution” to the residents’ plight by possibly providing emergency shelter to displaced occupiers of state lands.

He said failure to do this could lead to increased crime, as the squatters are financially vulnerable.

“Evicting families amid the current economic collapse would only place them on the streets, vulnerable to crime and at risk of further social challenges.

“The heavy hand of the law would not lift the desperate out of their financial crisis.”