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Vol. 32, Issue 31 BROOKLYN EDITION July 30-Aug. 5, 2021
COUP
ATTEMPT
MEMORIAL
T&T prez calls for annual national
observance of bloody 1990 event
By Bert Wilkinson
As Americans this week
watched live Congressional
hearings on the Jan. 6th insurrection
on Capitol Hill, citizens
in the Caribbean Community
nation of Trinidad & Tobago
also paused to remember the
bloody late July coup attempt
31 years ago at the hands
of a rebellious local Muslim
group with calls for permanent
memorials and vows from local
politicians that such shall never
be allowed to occur on the twin
island with Tobago again.
On Friday, July 27, 1990, a
group of more than 100 members
of the local Jamaat al Muslimeen
stormed parliament and
several of state buildings in an
attempt to dislodge the administration
of then Prime Minister
Ray Robinson, shooting
the prime minister in the leg,
killing police officers and civilians
and sparking massive looting
in downtown Port of Spain
destroying several buildings
leading to millions in commercial
losses. The entire episode,
coming after similarly bloody
events in Suriname in 1980 and
Grenada three years later, lasted
a full week and ended with
an amnesty for the attempted
coup makers through a controversial
peace agreement
signed by then acting President
Emmanuel Carter. That
deal did not in any way bring
joy and comfort to police and
the military as they tried various
moves to sabotage it and
take on the rebels. In the end
peace prevailed and life slowly
returned to normal.
The rebel group had been
angry with the government at
the time, blaming it for high
inflation, shortages of medicines
at state hospitals and for
generally lowering the standard
of living with tough austerity
measures among other ills.
Leader and ex-policeman,
Yasin Abu Bakr had calculated
that citizens would have taken
to the streets in support of
the bloody coup attempt as the
government had not necessarily
been at the height of its popularity
at the time. How wrong
he was. More than 20 people
were killed in the coup attempt,
dozens of others injured and
or traumatized, some because
clearly brainwashed Muslimeen
youngsters who should have
been in school, had pointed
rifles at them for days, threatening
their lives in the process
as gunfire erupted at the
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez speaks during a news conference, Wednesday,
Sept. 25, 2019, in New York. Associated Press /Mary Altaffer/ File
Brooklyn District Attorney
dismisses over 3,500 ganja cases
By Nelson A. King
Brooklyn District Attorney,
Eric Gonzalez on Tuesday
asked the court to dismiss
3,578 marijuana cases that
remained on the docket mostly
because of open warrants.
With this move, nearly all
marijuana cases in Brooklyn
have been dismissed.
Since the State Legislature
legalized marijuana in March,
the DA’s Office dismissed about
240 active cases in which
marijuana was charged, while
marijuana charges that are
included in felony cases are
being dismissed in the course
of court proceedings.
“For too long, criminalization
of marijuana has disproportionately
impacted young
people and communities of
color whose members made
up about 90 percent of those
arrested,” Gonzalez said.
“These arrests ruined the
lives of thousands of people
over the years, saddling many
with criminal convictions that
prevented them from pursuing
opportunities in life,”
he added. “That was why, in
Brooklyn, we stopped prosecuting
possession cases in
2014 and went further in 2017,
declining prosecution of nearly
all smoking cases as well.
A year later, we also moved to
dismiss warrant cases.”
Gonzalez said he was gratified
that the New York Legislature
legalized marijuana
earlier this year in a bill that
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