Caribbean coup attempt remembered

Ten years ago, a group of black Muslims tried to overthrow the democratically-elected government of the Caribbean twin-island state of Trinidad and Tobago.

One-hundred-and-fourteen members of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen group, mostly young black men, took over the island's parliament; held the prime minister and some other members of his cabinet hostage; and stormed the state-run television station.

For many, inside and outside the Caribbean, the 27 July crisis came as a total shock.

The English-speaking Caribbean islands had vowed, following the 1983 American-led invasion of Grenada, never to see democratically-elected structures topple ever again.

The crisis began with the blowing up of the police headquarters building in the capital, Port of Spain.

After that, groups of young Muslimeen, armed with AK47's, swarmed into the parliament building, known as the Red House, and Trinidad and Tobago Television, TTT.

Muslimeen leader, Yasin Abu Bakr, a former Trinidadian policeman, called for public support.

Instead Trinidadians stayed home and watched as the six-day drama was reported on local and regional radio and then picked up by the international media.

The Muslimeen handed over their hostages and surrendered six days later on 1 August.

They continued to argue that they had been granted an amnesty signed by the acting president. Local soldiers instead arrested them and the 115 men faced treason charges.

The case went through to the highest appeal court available to Trinidad and Tobago, London's Privy Council.

The Port of Spain courts eventually agreed that the Muslimeen should be freed in 1992.

While, the local courts upheld the amnesty, the Privy Council ruled it invalid later on but said the Muslimeen members could not be returned in jail.

Hostages and the wider population are still angry today at the events of a decade ago.

The country's National Security Minister Joseph Theodore said his forces have remained vigilant - they still believe the Muslimeen could be a threat.

Trinidad and Tobago remains a population of mostly Hindus, Catholics, with a small Asian Muslim community.

The Jamaat-al-Muslimeen are one of the smallest religious and social groups on the islands of 1.1 million.

The government held a memorial service on Thursday, 27 July for the 24 people who died during the crisis.

Many told the BBC it would be a long time, much longer than a decade for the twin island republic, usually famous for its calypso, carnival, and its steelpan, to forget the time when its peaceful democracy was disrupted.

Panday and the Trinidadian government are not as reliable as us Americans may be led to believe and they are really trying hard to find the Jamaat guilty of something after being humiliated by the coup. In ten years they have not been able to find any other crimes done by these people under close scrutiny?

Apparently they didn't have to look far:

...The four Muslim men accused in the JFK plot didn’t turn to Pakistan, Iran or Afghanistan for support after targeting the airport, home to an average 1,000 daily flights and 45 million passengers annually.
Instead, according to a federal complaint, the informant and defendants Kareem Ibrahim and Defreitas visited a compound belonging to the Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical Muslim group based in Trinidad. When Defreitas discussed his radical “brothers” with the informant, he made it clear they were not Arabs, but from Trinidad and Guyana.
The complaint also made clear how deeply the informant had infiltrated the small band of would-be terrorists.
While Defreitas, a retired JFK airport cargo worker, made four reconnaissance missions to the airport with the informant, federal authorities captured each one on audio and video equipment.
Ibrahim and another suspect, Abdul Kadir, were in custody in Trinidad awaiting extradition hearings. Officials identified Kadir as a former mayor of a Guyanese town and a member of the country’s Parliament.
Authorities in Trinidad were still seeking a fourth suspect, Abdel Nur. ...
----------"Drug Dealer Becomes Hero For Exposing Terror Plot," WCBSTV.COM ^ | 03 JUNE 2007 | AP

They planned to blow up pipelines leading to JFK Airport.

AUGUST 2, 2010 : (DEFREITAS & ABDUL KADIR ARE FOUND GUILTY IN JFK AIRPORT "CHICKENFARM" PLOT---- see JAM) ... “NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Two Islamist militants were found guilty today by a federal jury of plotting to bomb New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Russell Defreitas, 67, a U.S. citizen born in Guyana, and Abdul Kadir, 58, of Guyana, conspired to blow up buildings, fuel tanks and pipelines at the airport in the New York City borough of Queens.”
SNIPPET: “Two other men were arrested in the plot. Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad and Tobago was deemed too ill to be tried, but may face trial later.
Guyanese Abdel Nur, 60, pleaded guilty in June to a separate charge of material support to terrorism and faces up to 15 years in prison.”-------“Breaking News: Kadir, DeFreitas found guilty in JFK plot case” By editor | August 2, 2010 in Local Newshttp://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/stories/08/02/breaking-news-kadir-defreitas-found-guilty-in-jfk-plot-case/

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