After walking in the hot sun for some five-and-half hours from Arima to Port-of-Spain, 1990 coup hostage Wendell Eversley sat on the pavement opposite the Red House and openly cried.
The entrance to the eternal flame, in memory of those who fell during the insurrection, was barricaded with galvanise, making it impossible for the monument even to be seen.
"This is a national disgrace. I am disappointed with the Government," Eversley said, as he was forced to place the five wreaths on the pavement in memory of those were killed when 113 members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen, led by Yasin Abu Bakr, staged the coup attempt 25 years ago.
He said the fact he was forced to leave the wreaths on the pavement was a reflection of the "total disregard and disrespect" not only shown by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar but also Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley and others in authority.
He said a couple years ago, he had to call on former adviser to the PM, Gary Griffith, to allow him to place the wreaths as, at that time, the gates were shut.
"But just last week the gates were open. Somebody sabotaging," Eversley claimed.
Afeisha Caballero, who was 19 months old when her mother, Loraine, a clerk at the Red House, was shot and killed during the coup also shed tears as she too was not allowed to pay her respects.
Clutching two roses, red and orange, Caballero echoed Eversley's sentiments, saying very little, if anything at all, had come out of the enquiry.
"I wish that those responsible for this happening today could feel the hurt that I feel. I never knew my mother to that extent. I had a grandmother and a father but it still was not the same.
"At the end of it all, I just want some closure. Abu Bakr said let the women and children go and my mother was a woman and why didn't she get release? Twenty-five years after that really bothers me," Caballero said.
"I would like the present Government to put back the annual service so people could remember.
That was the only thing I had... to come and meet my mother's friends, those who were with her at the time she died and try to understand what really took place in the Red House," Caballero added.