PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Jul 27, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago is marking the 35th anniversary of a failed coup by a group of Muslim fundamentalists with Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar saying “let us be clear, the perpetrators of July 1990 were not patriots.
“They did more than sow fear, death and chaos — they launched an unprecedented assault on our Constitution, the rule of law, and the very soul of our democracy,” she said in a message marking the occasion.
The Jamaat al Muslimeen group led by Yasin Abu Bakr sought to overthrow the then ANR Robinson government by launching simultaneous attacks on the Parliament and the state-owned Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT).
The group held Robinson and other government officials hostage in the Parliament over the course of six days before the insurgents surrendered. They were charged with treason, but were ordered released by the Court of Appeal.
One legislator, Leo Des Vignes, was among the 24 people killed during the coup, Many more were injured.
(Details in Politics section)
CMC/2025