Socio-economic conditions that triggered attempted coup still persist 35 years later

DESPITE the release of five books, at least three documentaries and a commission of enquiry, academics and political commentators contend that many of the factors that were believed to have triggered the July 1990 attempted coup, a dark period in TT’s history, still persist.

On that fateful day, Jamaat al Muslimeen insurgents stormed the Red House, Port of Spain, the seat of the country’s Parliament, holding then-prime minister ANR Robinson, other parliamentarians and staff at state-owned TT Television (TTT) hostage for six days.

It is believed that TT’s socio-economic climate at the time – rising unemployment, declining oil prices, tax increases, widespread disenchantment – prompted the attempted coup.

But the man who led the country through the crisis continues to reject this position.

“The factors that the commentators have said gave rise to the attempted coup, I don’t believe those factors were really relevant,” Winston Dookeran, who acted as prime minister during the six-day ordeal, told Newsday on July 23.

“The argument that was put that it had to do with the economic conditions at the time and the government’s inability to resolve that problem, I don’t think that had any real impact on the decision that was made to invade Parliament violently.”

As the country marks the 35th anniversary of the incident, Dookeran believes there is no reason to compare TT’s socio-economic environment at the time of the attempted coup with today’s realities.

“It will not make any sense because those conditions exist all the time. It existed then, it existed ten years later and it exists now but perhaps to a lesser extent. So the pretext was used by many analysts, I violently disagreed with that.”

Dookeran was a senior member of the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) administration when the Muslimeen insurgents, on Imam Yasin Abu Bakr’s orders, entered the Red House and attempted to overthrow the government.

He said over the years he has often shared his views about the attempted coup, most recently at the University of Toronto, Canada, where he talked about the “violent attack” to which the Parliament had been subjected.

“My talk was labelled around the fact that a small country was at the edge of a violent attack on Parliament, which was a sort of prelude to what happened subsequently in the world with respect to the terrorist movement that came after, although this (1990 attempted coup) was not linked to anything internationally.”

Currently the secretary-general of EUCLID, an intergovernmental institution dedicated to advancing higher education and sustainable development, Dookeran believes the incident was caused by “a power-hungry individual.

“It was a simple case of an individual who had in his mind the view that he wanted to do something dramatic given his own history and his own inclination to, in his view, overthrow the government.”

He continued, “It was a power issue, much more than a socio-political issue – an attempt to capture power by the group as much as the individual who brought together a number of people using all kinds of arguments to support it.

“It was an individual who wanted to establish himself as having overthrown the government in Trinidad on the pretext that it was being done for social and economic upliftment.”

Dookeran also does not believe the attempted coup got the closure it deserves.

“I feel a sense of disappointment that we have not brought a proper closure to a public issue that required a public solution. My thoughts are that it is an alive issue.

“Although the commission of enquiry that was set up many years later was meant to bring it to a closure, it failed to do so because they did not get into the real depths of the issues of security lapses, the issue of violence in the country and things of that nature. So the closure is not there.”

Dookeran said the people who were directly affected by the incident remember it with both fear and relief.

“I think they remember it because it was a frightful situation at the time. But it was a relief that our country was able to resolve it in the way we did to restore the institutions for democratic rule.”

He told Newsday he met recently with members of the armed forces who served in various capacities during the attempted coup.

Most of them, he said, were in the Parliament and television station while others were at the police headquarters, which was burnt down.

Dookeran said they shared their experiences.

“It was a most extraordinary meeting because most of these individuals are ether retired or near to retirement now 35 years later.

“But they remember every precise detail of what they did individually and I, of course, was able to share what I had to do from the level of being the acting Prime Minister at the time. So I was very impressed that they remembered in great detail.”

Sadly, he said, they all felt the incident has not been resolved.

“So it is not in the minds of those who were involved, a matter that can be simply put aside and they felt a sense that the country needs to become much more aware.”

Dookeran believes the issue is still relevant for young people, many of whom were not around at the time or even aware that the country’s democracy was challenged in a very serious way.

“After all, at least 25 people were killed in the process. That is not something to simply wish away. It was a real act of violence and people lost their lives and as such it was not a simple event of a minor political nature. It was an affront on the political history of the process for development of democracy in our country.

“And despite protestations to the effect, nothing has been done to bring closure as if it was not a serious issue that affected the political history of our country, those who lost their lives in the process and many who did not lose their lives but had to suffer the indignity of the situation and in some cases, in a medical way as well.”

He claimed attempts were made to provide psychological help to those who were directly affected and their families.

“There was a little bit of it but very little. Nothing of a protracted nature that was required by those who were so affected.”

Economist Dr Dhanayshar Mahabir believes TT’s current socio-economic environment mirrors what prevailed in 1990.

He recalled the country was in an International Monetary Fund (IMF) standby arrangement at that time “with all the austerity measures which this entailed.”

Today, Mahabir said, while there is no IMF borrowing (yet), the persistence of deficits suggests that the government is not in a position to expand its social assistance programmes.

“Persistent poverty exists and the distribution of income has not improved,” he argued.

Still, like Dookeran, Mahabir wondered whether TT’s deteriorating economy and the citizenry’s overall discontent did, in fact, give rise to the coup attempt.

“This is not easy to answer as similar conditions existed in 1970 during the black power protests with no attempt to overthrow the government. Similarly the labour unrests of 1937 displayed an economy remarkably similar to 1970 and 1990. Again, no attempt was made to remove the government by force.”

He went on, “The key difference in 1990 has to be the existence of an organised group with the training and capability to overwhelm the police and invade Parliament and the state-owned TTT. Such a group did not exist during previous upheavals.”

Mahabir, who served as an independent senator from 2013-2018, said the events of 1990 can perhaps be repeated if an organised group, led by a charismatic leader exists.

“This is not the case as far as anyone is aware. The coup ultimately failed, as it had to, for despite economic hardship, the population and our military did not join in the insurrection.

“This is great news. Governments have been changing in Trinidad since 1986. This, via the rules enshrined in the Constitution. All the coup instigators had to do in 1990 was wait a year for the ballot box to do the needful.”

He said the Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led government has to address the issues plaguing the country frontally.

“They have to get crime under control, distribute foreign exchange more equally and reduce the deficit. If not, the ballot box in a few years will will do what the coup failed to achieve.”

History lecturer Dr Jerome Teelucksingh said the socio-economic factors that were believed to have triggered the attempted coup, still persist.

“There is unemployment, there is poverty, there is corruption, just as in 1990, prior to the coup. But we have to remember that these things always exist in societies in developing countries,” he told Newsday.

To prevent a future re-occurrence, Teelucksingh said, there has to be what some might consider, for example, an “acceptable level” of not just poverty but all of the other ills plaguing the country.

“So the perception in 1989 into 1990 was that the government was uncaring and that there were taxes and that the Treasury was empty. We don’t have that depth of perception, today, although we have people believing that democracy is being undermined and threatened with the recent firing of the Cepep workers. But I don’t get that feeling that they will have that (attempt to overthrow the country).

He said although there may be signs that something negative could potentially happen, “it wouldn’t happen because the people protesting know their boundaries.”

Teelucksingh said the major difference between the events of 1990 and 2025 is that the military and police are stronger. “They are more alert around this time especially and, more importantly, they have better surveillance equipment. We are dealing with a military that has learnt a lesson. We are also dealing with a military that is better trained and equipped.”

He said while murders persist, “personally, I don’t believe that another coup could occur in the next few years.

“I think, in the near future, democracy will be preserved, there will be stability. There are subversive elements and they will be neutralised. We see the government acted with the state of emergency and even the previous government had imposed a curfew. So that steps are being taken to neutralise subversive elements.”

Teelucksingh believes the criminal activities taking place are not coordinated efforts.

“They are fragmented. So we have the gangsters but there isn’t that level of coordination amongst the subversive groups.”

Political analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath, too, contends that the challenges that existed pre-1990, are still being felt.

“We still have those economic challenges, what we don’t have are the trade unions leading the protest. The fact of the matter is that there are still economic challenges,” he said.

“The government has not gone to the IMF so we don’t have the structural adjustment that we had in 1990. But we do have economic challenges that run close to it.”