TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/081390/0813006.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.7 KB | 122 lines

                                                                                WORLD, Page 26

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Captain, the Ship Is Sinking


Muslim nationalists nearly deep-six a Caribbean government


    Trinidadians traditionally express their political feelings
in satirical calypso songs. Prime Minister A.N.R. Robinson won
a landslide four years ago to the tune of Captain, the Ship Is
Sinking, a telling commentary on the island nation's economic
decline. But the conservative Robinson almost lost the helm
himself last week, when a group of fanatic black Muslims took
him and 54 others hostage in an attempt to bring down the
government.

    After five days, at least 30 dead and 150 wounded, Yasin Abu
Bakr, leader of the abortive coup, emerged from the
television-broadcast building in Port-of-Spain and laid down
his rifle. "Allah is the greatest," he said, then stood in the
pouring rain as 70 of his followers added their arms to the
growing pile of weapons and were taken into custody by
Trinidadian soldiers. The rebels are expected to face criminal
charges of treason, murder and kidnapping, and could be hanged
if found guilty.

    Thus ended a bizarre chapter in the history of peaceful,
democratic politics in the English-speaking Caribbean, where
coups are virtually unknown -- only in Grenada has an elected
leadership been successfully overthrown, by Maurice Bishop in
1979. "As far as the government is concerned, it's
unconditional surrender," said spokesman Gregory Shaw. But the
incident was a chilling illustration of how easily Trinidad's
economic straits could be exploited by desperate men like Bakr.

    The seeds of the crisis were planted eight years ago after
a former policeman named Lennox Phillip went to Canada to study
engineering and returned to Trinidad as Yasin Abu Bakr, an
ardent Islamic radical. Bakr soon became the leader of the
Jamaat al-Muslimeen, or Group of Muslims. The Islamic splinter
group, with few ties to the mainstream Muslims who make up 6%
of the Trinidad and Tobago population of 1.3 million, espoused
a potent mixture of religious fundamentalism and left-wing
politics. The self-styled "Imam" traveled to Libya and was a
vocal supporter of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, but the main
interest of his armed band of militants, he said, was to rid
Trinidad of drugs, corruption and poverty. He lived with most
of his 300 adherents on a commune on the edge of Port-of-Spain,
where he commandeered government land to build a mosque,
schools and shops. In recent weeks he was said to have become
increasingly upset at official attempts to reclaim the land and
at Robinson's failure to address the needs of the poor.

    Bakr's anger turned to action on the evening of July 27,
when he and more than 70 of his men stormed the Trinidad and
Tobago TV studios, a mile from their mosque. At the same time,
a powerful car bomb gutted the downtown police headquarters,
and another group of gunmen seized the parliament building,
taking Robinson and seven Cabinet ministers hostage. At 6:18
p.m., Bakr appeared on state-owned TV and announced that his
"troops" had overthrown the government. Later he demanded that
Robinson resign, new elections be held and an amnesty be granted
to his rebel band.

    As the shock of the news sank in, Trinidadians went on a
weekend looting spree that left Port-of-Spain's main shopping
street a shambles. But the popular uprising that Bakr had
counted on never came, and he and his men soon found themselves
surrounded by troops and without food. On the fifth day Bakr
agreed to release Robinson, 63, who had been shot in the leg
and suffers from diabetes and glaucoma. Next day Bakr and his
men freed the remaining hostages and gave themselves up.

    The government had to use a bit of diplomatic sleight of
hand to resolve the standoff. Spokesman Shaw admitted that
Robinson had agreed to Bakr's terms, but stressed that the
Prime Minister had endorsed the demands under extreme duress,
making them nonbinding. "Tricked, double-crossed, whatever you
want to call it. It is foolish to quibble with ethics when you
are dealing with situations of this kind," said Shaw. "Why not
promise them the moon and the stars?"

    While the audacious putsch introduced a new and disquieting
dimension of Muslim extremism to the Caribbean, Jamaat
al-Muslimeen remains a fringe group. Still, leaders attending
last week's annual Caribbean Community meeting in Jamaica were
haunted by the specter of Middle East-style Muslim uprisings.

    Far more ominous, perhaps, were the economic implications
of the widespread looting that broke out. The violence resulted
in the worst damage seen since the Black Power riots in 1970,
when half the army rebelled in support of hundreds of
discontented young blacks who took to the streets of
Port-of-Spain. Poor Trinidadians were signaling their growing
impatience with a life of deepening poverty and an unemployment
rate that has exceeded 20% since the collapse of the 1980s oil
boom. Robinson has seen his standing eroded by such unpopular
International Monetary Fund-dictated measures as a 10% pay cut
and a new 15% value-added tax, and by his decision to spend
$125,000 on a  statue of a deceased civil servant. "It is a
message and a lesson for the government," said one
Port-of-Spain truck driver, adding "There are too many
unemployed, and they don't understand all that complicated
economic stuff that's strangling them." If that doesn't change
soon, the people may soon be singing Bye, Bye, Mr. Prime
Minister.


By Guy D. Garcia. Reported by Bernard Diederich/Port-of-Spain.

     (Article appears on page 25 in some issues)