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April 25, 2020
What a morning it was on April 21st, 1970, in Trinidad and Tobago! Along Long Circular Road, just a stone’s throw from the St James Barracks–the Police Training School–fire broke out at Camp Ogden, the military outpost, while the radio stations blared the news that at Teteron, T&T Defense Force Headquarters, some sort of insurrection was underway.
As a matter of fact, my younger brother’s ranking membership in the Regiment and more so his posting at Army Headquarters added a great deal to my curiosity to find out the facts of the matter at hand. With unbelievable dexterity, I drove from Cocorite–four miles from army headquarters–to about 300 feet from the century post at the main entrance to Teteron and quickly satisfied myself that he was not in trouble.
Let me just say two things:
First, because of what I knew regarding the rather unbearably awkward relationship between the policemen and the soldiers, I never shared the view that the event which gave rise to the eloquent delivery of Raffique Shah before the tribunal presided over by Colonel Theophilus Danjuma should be dubbed “THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION”.
Second, I have always fitted the action of the soldiers in parallel to the general discontent that prevailed in Trinidad and Tobago during those days. T’was the period when throughout the length and breadth of the country, every branch of workers demonstrated in protest for better conditions. Nurses, Civil Servants and Teachers marched. Almost every Trade Union went on strike. Yes, oh yes, the union activism which preceded 1970 gave rise to the infamous Industrial Stabilization Act, and of course the refrain “Ah Fraid Karl” was memorialized in Chalkdust’s calypso of the same name.
I followed the trial of those soldiers very closely and always predicted that they would be freed simply because the tribunal–not comprised of their peers–was illegally constituted. Too many soldiers of all ranks took part in the demonstrations. All of this to say: To this day I still feel a deep sense of admiration for Raffique Shah’s total posture before the military tribunal. It is as if I were there.
Raffique and his father, Hannif Shah, on Raffique’s release from prison on July 27, 1972. 
Lt. Col. Serrette (third from left) makes his “last” inspection as C.O. in February 1968.
In the drama of the stand-off at Teteron Bay, the formerly deposed but fraternally popular Commander Jeoff Serrette earned the title Brigadier by successfully offering his physical intervention to bring an end to the impasse. His feat occasioned the late Mighty Composer’s 1971 satirical treatment of the then Commander’s demeanor of showmanship in his ditty titled “Blow The Whole Place Dong” (at 15:44 minutes) but with the proviso, “Wait Till Yuh Hear Meh Call”. Not to mention the people’s ire as captured in Kitchner’s “No Freedom”!
I was there!
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Duff Mitchell, a founding member of Pegasus, is a literary critic whose writings appeared frequently in the Trinidad and Tobago Review and Caribbean Review.