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April 21, 2020
Today, April 21st, 2020, marks the 50th Anniversary of the declaration of a State of Emergency in Trinidad & Tobago on April 21st, 1970. That State of Emergency (SOE) was imposed to suppress a growing rebellion sweeping T&T at the time.
While mass demonstrations (the “Black Power Revolution”) had started back on Feb 26th, 1970, the immediate series of events that sparked the declaration of the SOE were; the impending work stoppages on April 21 among sugar, transportation, and telephone workers, with the militant Oilfield Workers workers and their union guaranteed to move in solidarity. In addition, the planned march by the mainly East Indian sugar workers to the capital, on that day, to link up with the urban, mostly African protests was an ominous sign for the government’s survival.
In order to smash the revolutionary fervor, the government ordered the military based at Chagaramus, just outside of the capital, Port of Spain, to enter the capital and put down demonstrations and protests taking place there that day. But some half of the T&T Regiment forces under the leadership of army Lieutenants Raffique Shah, Rex Lasalle and Micheal Baize, instead led their forces to mutiny against those orders and the government of Eric Williams. The rebels arrested the top military brass, seized the arsenal at Chagaramus and headed to POS with a heavily armed military convoy.
On their way to POS, and just outside of the base, the convoy was fired upon by a T&T Coast Guard vessel which, along with US and Venezuelan military forces, were being assembled to come to the aid of the Williams Government to suppress the revolt. The soldiers retreated into the surrounding hillside, eventually surrendered, and along with dozens of civilian leaders, were jailed on Nelson Island prison off the coast of Trinidad. The soldiers were later court-marshalled, convicted, and given long prison sentences, for treason but won their appeal in the courts and were released.
The events of April 21st, 1970 represent an historic marker in the history of T&T and a critical juncture for the growing ‘Black Power’ Rebellion of 1970 in Trinidad and Tobago. The incidents of that day had a decisive impact on the rebellion and helped shape the consciousness of all Trinbagonians who, one way or the other, were exposed to it and which triggered extensive social and economic changes throughout T&T, lasting to this day.
We honor the heroes and sheroes of 1970, guard its legacy and uphold its lessons.
Roger Toussaint, former President of the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, who led the 2005 NYC Transit Strike, is a founding member of the Caribbean Awareness Committee, NYC.