Trinidad And Tobago PM Marks Anniversary Of Coup
July 28, 2010
CaribWorldNews, PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Weds. July 28, 2010: Trinidad and Tobago`s first female prime minister, Kamla Persad Bissessar, yesterday helped marked the country`s 20th anniversary of the 1990 coup.
Persad-Bissessar attended a annual church service to mark the anniversary at the Holy Trinity Cathedral on Tuesday followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at parliament – the Red House – in remembrance of those who lost their lives.
The coup, carried out by Yasin Abu Bakr and his Islamist radical group, Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, left 24 people dead – including an MP, Leo Des Vignes. Then prime minister, ANR Robinson, was beaten and shot when he tried to order the army to `attack with full force.`
Abu Bakr and Jamaat-al-Muslimeen members surrendered on August 1st. They were then tried for treason but were released when the Court of Appeal upheld their claim that their surrender was based on the promise of amnesty.
PM Persad-Bissessar has announced a commission of inquiry into the coup insisting that the investigation would help the country close a painful chapter in its history. She went on to say her government also intended to auction off properties owned by Jamaat-al-Muslimeen to help repay the state for damage caused during the rebellion.
Abu Bakr told a local newspaper he welcomed the initiative. `If I am alive, God willing, I will be the first person to testify,` he said. `It`s 20 years too late, but never too late.`
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