Trinidad and Tobago is celebrating its 64th anniversary of independence on Monday with Police Commissioner, Allister Guevarro, telling cittizens the threats to disrupt the celebrations are low and that they should not worry about the series of bomb threats made over the past few days.
Among the activities planned for the anniversary is the traditional military parade at the Queens Park Savannah on the outskirts of the capital.
‘To the unpatriotic, cowardice keyboard warrior who perpetrated this current set of hoaxes, all I will say to you is that time is longer than twine, and be mindful of the vengeance of Moko,’ Guevarro said in a broadcast on the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) website.
‘As Commissioner of Police, I call upon the national community to stand united against such reckless conduct. These hoax threats are not a joke. They are an attack on our courts, our institutions, and our people.
‘The TTPs will pursue all leads relentlessly, and those responsible will face justice,’ Guevarro said, adding ‘I assure citizens that celebrations will proceed safely and securely and uninterrupted.
‘The TTPs remain steadfast in its duty to protect and serve without fear or favour, and together we will not allow fear-mongering to overshadow our national pride. Happy Independence Day to each and every one of you,’ he said.
Guevarro said that over the past two weeks, Trinidad and Tobago has been subjected to a series of coordinated bomb threats, targeting the magistrates courts, government ministries, shopping plazas and hotels.
He said each report was thoroughly investigated by the Explosive Detection and Disposal Unit of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, supported by the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service ‘and in every instance, the threats were confirmed to be hoaxes.
‘No explosives or suspicious devices were ever uncovered,’ he said, noting that some of the bomb threats have now extended to even diplomatic missions.
‘Investigations confirmed that these threats were designed to disrupt the daily operations at the mentioned institutions, as well as the more cowardly act of spreading fear among the public. The TTPS condemns in the strongest possible terms the reckless and malicious actions of those responsible.
‘Such behaviour is not only criminal, but also deeply responsible, and seeks to sow fear, disrupt justice, and waste valuable public resources. These hoax threats undermine national security efforts and divert attention from genuine policing needs.
‘The public must recognise that those who engage in such acts are attacking the very stability of our democracy and the safety of our communities. Despite the volume of the threats, no intelligence has come to hand indicating that there was anything else but a hoax, and that no one was planning any attack against the state, the diplomatic missions, or even the Independence Day celebrations.’
The top cop said that ‘the threat level remains low’ and that the primary risk is public panic and disruption, reiterating that ‘not any single credible threat was found’.
He said that the TTPS has responded with heightened alert and instituted particular measures to ensure that there are no disruptions to any of the planned Independence Day activities.
‘Investigations are continuing, but in matters which fall within the realm of cybercrime, it takes a little longer to obtain the evidence,’ Guevarro said, recalling a similar case last year, when someone used cyber resources to terrorise a secondary school.
He said that that person ‘foolishly believed that the internet afforded them the luxury of being anonymous, and up until the time when their freedom and their independence were removed by my officers, they still felt that they were anonymous, and then the handcuffs clipped’.
Meanwhile, President Christine Kangaloo has lamented what she described as too many families in Trinidad and Tobago experiencing grief due to violence.
In her Independence Day message to the nation, she said that it was important to confront realities including sorrow affecting families and enable youths to secure a brighter and better future.
Kangaloo said it was the citizens’ rights to protect its democracy including certain fundamental freedoms, and demand law and order.
‘Independence gave us the authority to determine our own course. Republican status placed responsibility for our constitutional life fully into our own hands. Sovereignty has therefore become stewardship: the duty to care wisely for the nation entrusted to us and to pass it on stronger than we received it.
‘We should be candid with ourselves. All is not as we would wish it to be. Too many families have known the grief caused by violence. Too many citizens face uncertainty about their future, and too many young people struggle to see a secure place for themselves in the country of their birth. Independence does not require us to overlook these realities. It gives us the freedom, and imposes upon us the duty, to confront them.
‘The freedom we celebrate includes the freedom to live without fear. Every life lost to violence diminishes us, and every family left to mourn bears a sorrow that touches the nation as a whole. We are therefore right to insist upon safety and order,’ Kangaloo said, noting that there was the need for shared responsibility.
‘But our Independence also entrusts to us laws, institutions and liberties which generations before us struggled to secure. A mature society does not regard security, liberty and the sanctity of life as competing aspirations. It works, patiently and responsibly, to protect all three,’ she said.
‘That responsibility belongs to all of us. The deeper work of building a peaceful society begins wherever a child is taught the value of human life; wherever a family, teacher, coach, faith community or neighbour helps a young person to discover purpose; and wherever citizens choose responsibility over indifference and service over self-interest.’
In her message, the head of state said that there is a need for equity in the society.
‘It also requires us to recognise one another as equal citizens. Independence made us one people in law. Nationhood asks us to become one people in practice: not by surrendering the differences that enrich us, but by refusing to allow those differences to determine who belongs, whose contribution is valued, or whose dignity deserves protectio..
‘The Republic belongs wholly and equally to every citizen. Its institutions are not the possessions of the persons who occupy them, nor instruments of the moment. They are held in trust for all the people. Their strength depends upon the integrity of those who serve within them, the vigilance of those whom they serve, and our willingness to remember that, after political disagreements have passed, we must still live together and build one future.’
Kangaloo said that future ‘will be shaped by what we place in the hands of the next generation’.