Crime in Trinidad and To­ba­go is no longer just a mat­ter of sta­tis­tics, polic­ing strate­gies or po­lit­i­cal de­bate. Its most dev­as­tat­ing ef­fect is the ero­sion of our chil­dren’s safe­ty and well-be­ing. They em­body the cost of this re­lent­less vi­o­lence, ab­sorb­ing trau­ma and fear that will de­ter­mine not just their fu­tures, but the fu­ture of our na­tion.

The first an­niver­sary on Tues­day of the huge vic­to­ry by Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress in the April 28, 2026, gen­er­al elec­tion should have prompt­ed a great deal of in­tro­spec­tion by both the Gov­ern­ment and the Op­po­si­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go, as both po­lit­i­cal par­ties have a re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to their sup­port­ers to un­der­take re­al­is­tic as­sess­ments of their re­spec­tive po­si­tions with 20 per cent of the elec­tion cy­cle com­plet­ed.

In­for­ma­tion on the re­port­ed in­ten­tion to dis­solve the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion (NCC) and to cre­ate what is be­ing re­ferred as a “Na­tion­al Fes­ti­vals Com­mit­tee,” which will take re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for re­or­gan­is­ing the Car­ni­val and oth­er na­tion­al fes­ti­vals, is at­tract­ing se­ri­ous con­cern.

The Prime Min­is­ter was clear and di­rect about year two of her Gov­ern­ment: “More jobs and eco­nom­ic growth and a ruth­less re­sponse to crim­i­nals...” That is the Prime Min­is­ter’s com­mit­ment. But what kind of jobs, where will the growth come from and what about jus­tice and trust?

Last Sat­ur­day’s dra­mat­ic turn of events at the White House Cor­re­spon­dents’ Din­ner in Wash­ing­ton, DC, gen­er­at­ed enough emo­tion to dom­i­nate my thoughts ever since - oth­er mas­sive­ly sig­nif­i­cant is­sues notwith­stand­ing.

The re­cent re­gion­al trav­el itin­er­ary of Venezuela’s act­ing pres­i­dent Del­cy Ro­dríguez has tak­en her to Grena­da and Bar­ba­dos with cal­cu­lat­ed vis­i­bil­i­ty, but most strik­ing­ly, not to Trinidad and To­ba­go her coun­try’s clos­est neigh­bour.

Trinidad and To­ba­go’s po­lit­i­cal land­scape has rarely been sta­t­ic, but last week­end of­fered an un­usu­al­ly clear snap­shot of where both ma­jor par­ties stand—and the ter­rain they must now nav­i­gate.

If a week is long in pol­i­tics, a year is an eter­ni­ty. The Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) de­ci­sive­ly won 26 seats in the 2025 gen­er­al elec­tion, while the new To­ba­go Peo­ple’s Par­ty took both To­ba­go seats. Yes­ter­day, UNC sup­port­ers gath­ered to cel­e­brate achieve­ments dur­ing their first year in gov­ern­ment.

In­tro­duc­ing un­sub­sidised flights on the Trinidad-To­ba­go air­bridge marks a de­ci­sive shift. Mov­ing from sub­sidised to par­tial­ly mar­ket-priced seats will de­pend on ex­e­cu­tion, trans­paren­cy and fair­ness.

Trinidad and To­ba­go finds it­self in an un­en­vi­able po­si­tion with a very dark cloud cur­rent­ly hang­ing over its law en­force­ment of­fi­cers and in­sti­tu­tions charged with the safe­ty and pro­tec­tion of cit­i­zens.

Pub­lic at­ten­tion has now shift­ed to Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les fol­low­ing the April 16 sack­ing of Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) Sen­a­tor Janelle John-Bates from the Pub­lic Ac­counts and Ad­min­is­tra­tion Com­mit­tee (PAAC) of the Up­per House over an em­bar­rass­ing po­lit­i­cal mis­step.

Re­cent news­pa­per head­lines re­flect­ing a wor­ry­ing spate of crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ty across the coun­try have re­in­forced the need for a well-co­or­di­nat­ed and sus­tain­able na­tion­al an­ti-crime strat­e­gy.