Trinidad, 1990: The Jamaat al Muslimeen Attempt to Overthrow the Government
The Griot | Stories Roots LegacyShow Notes
On July 27, 1990, 114 members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen attacked the Parliament building and the national television station in Port of Spain, and took the Prime Minister and Cabinet hostage. The siege lasted six days. Twenty-four people died. This episode tells what the record shows: the attack, the surrender and the amnesty, the court rulings that followed, and what a 2014 Commission of Enquiry concluded about the warnings that were missed. Sources: the Report of the Commission of Enquiry (2014) as summarized, academic work by Mahabir (2013), Ragoonath (1993) and Meighoo (2003), BBC reporting, Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, and Jamaica Observer. Where accounts differ, the episode says so.
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