Latin America @ War №19 - Trinidad 1990. The Caribbean’s Islamist Insurrection (2020).pdf

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Published by Helion & Company 2020
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Text © Sanjay Badri-Maharaj 2020
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Bocquelet and Tom Cooper 2020
Maps © Tom Cooper 2020
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CONTENTS
Abbreviations
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Background
Rival Forces
Planning the Attack
The Jamaat-al-Muslimeen Strikes
Hostages and Negotiations
The TTDF Responds
The Endgame, Amnesty, Surrender and Conclusions
2
2
11
25
31
35
37
49
58
61
62
64
Appendix: The TTDF Today
Bibliography
Notes
About the Author
LATIN AMERICA@WAR VOLUME 19
ABBREVIATIONS
AB
A&BDF
ASP
CA
CARICOM
CDS
CLO
CO
CoE
COIN
DAC
GBP
GEB
GOC
GPMG
HC
HQ
IAP
ISIS
J
JA/JAA
JAM
JCPC
JTUM
LNG
MOPS
NAR
NBS
air base
Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force
Assistant Superintendent of Police
Court of Appeal
Caribbean Community
Chief-of-Defence Staff
Central Liaison Office
commanding officer
Commission of Enquiry
counterinsurgency
Democratic Action Committee (political party)
British Pounds Sterling
Guard and Emergency Branch (TTDF)
general officer commanding
general purpose machine gun
High Court
headquarters
international airport
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (colloquially ‘Daesh’)
Justice (usually referred to as Mister/Madam Justice,
as appropriate)
Justice of Appeal/Justices of Appeal
Jamaat al-Muslimeen
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Joint Trade Union Movement (political party)
liquefied natural gas
Multi-Operational Police Section
National Alliance for Reconstruction
National Broadcasting Service
NGO
NHSL
NJAC
ONR
PC
PM
PNM
RAF
RSS
SLR
SNU
SOPO
SRP
SSU
TTCG
TTDF
TTR
TT$
TTT
UNC
UK
ULF
USA
US$
UWI
VDF
WIM
WPC
non-governmental organisation
National Helicopter Services Ltd.
National Joint Action Committee (political party)
Organisation for National Reconstruction (political
party)
Police Constable
Prime Minister
People’s National Movement (political party)
Royal Air Force (of the United Kingdom)
Regional Security System
self-loading rifle
Special Naval Unit
Summit of People’s Organisations
Special Reserve Police
Special Service Unit
Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard
Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force
Trinidad and Tobago Regiment
Trinidad and Tobago Dollar
Trinidad and Tobago TV
United National Congress (political party)
United Kingdom
United Labour Front (political party)
United Sates of America
US Dollar
University of West Indies
Volunteer Defence Force
World Islamic Mission
Woman Police Constable
1
BACKGROUND
B
etween the evening of 27 July 1990 and the afternoon of 1 August
1990, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago suffered and overcame
the second major challenge to its tradition of constitutional democracy
since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. The citizens
of the country witnessed the spectacle of the imposing figure of Imam
Yasin Abu Bakr announcing the “overthrow” of the government of
Prime Minister Arthur N.R. Robinson.
This was the first time in the country’s history that an elected
government had been held hostage by an armed group. Despite a
mutiny in the country’s armed forces in 1970, coinciding with massive
“Black Power” street protests, no government has ever been so directly
confronted with a violent attempt at a takeover.
While the death toll of 24 was relatively modest, it was a colossal
shock to Trinidad’s national psyche. The property damage and the
consequent damage to the economy were severe and the country
took a considerable period of time to achieve any degree of normalcy.
However, the effects of the insurrection were not so much physical but
rather the unleashing of hitherto underestimated ideologies of violent
Islam. This was to have a major impact some 25 years later when the
extent of Trinidadian involvement in ISIS became known.
In January 2016, the
Trinidad and Tobago Express
newspaper, citing
a Turkish report revealed that four Trinidad and Tobago nationals
were being held in Turkey after being captured fighting for the Islamic
State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
1
This was the latest in a steady stream of
frightening reports emanating from a country about as far removed as
possible geographically, culturally and politically from the turmoil of
the Middle East pointing to an aggressive, proactive and increasingly
successful global jihadi recruitment effort.
This growth of violent Islamic thought is a direct off-shoot of the
1990 insurrection. This emergence of a violent Islamist movement in
the English-speaking Caribbean might be surprising to some, but its
roots are deep and they are to be found in the unique history and
evolutionary political and economic path of Trinidad and Tobago. Its
demographic composition, its relative affluence and its largely stable
democratic governance system makes for an unlikely breeding ground
for Islamist groups. The roots of violent Islamism, however, lie in a
single pivotal event in 1990 that laid the foundations for the growth
and promotion of radical thoughts and ideas, and the network to set
those ideas into action.
The Legacy of 1990
2
TRINIDAD 1990: THE CARIBBEAN’S ISLAMIST INSURRECTION
The case of Trinidad and Tobago (abbreviated usually as Trinidad)
makes for an interesting study as, on the face of it, a well-integrated
Muslim population, a strong welfare state and an absence of political
persecution on any religious or racial basis should not provide fertile
recruiting ground for Jihadist ideology. However, the converse is most
certainly the case as not only is attraction to such extremist causes
growing but the numbers of Trinidadian nationals willing to fight for
ISIS is also increasing. What is happening in Trinidad is symptomatic
of a broader problem as Jihadi groups have widened their reach where
apparently unconnected groups can now ally with the ideology and
resource bases of better-known groups without formally being part
of them.
The flirtation with Islamist ideology, however, dates back many
years and through a combination of incompetence, political naiveté
and unfortunate compromises, the country faced the only Islamist
coup in the entire Latin America – Caribbean region. This was the
1990 insurrection by the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen.
To understand the effects of the 1990 insurrection, it is perhaps
useful to approach the event by looking at the situation today. The
Jamaat-al-Muslimeen and its affiliates have spawned a network of
organisations which have aided, supported and encouraged many
Trinidadian youths — and even whole families — to embrace the idea
of violent jihad and to leave Trinidad for service in Syria and Iraq
where many have met an untimely end, and where a new generation
of radical Islamists have been blooded in conflict with the attendant
concerns as to how to cope with returning ISIS fighters from these
conflict zones.
Radicalisation’s Effect Continues to the Present Day
You now have a golden opportunity to do something that many of
us here wish we could do right now. You have the ability to terrify
the disbelievers in their own homes and make their streets run with
their blood.
… terrorize the disbelievers and make them feel fear everywhere,
even in their own bedrooms. Due to their mere disbelief, their
blood by default is lawful to spill.
Sending shudders through the population of Trinidad and Tobago,
these words were uttered by Abu Sa’d at-Trinidadi in the August 2016
issue of Dabiq, the glossy online propaganda magazine of ISIS.
2
In an
issue dedicated to targeting Christians, at-Trinidadi’s words as part
of a vitriol-laced interview were undoubtedly aimed at spreading fear
among the island nation’s overwhelmingly non-Muslim population
and marks the first time that ISIS has used one of its Trinidadian
fighters to exhort his co-religionists in Trinidad to violence against
non-Muslims. Suspected of being one Shane Dominic Crawford, and
known as Asadullah, at-Trinidadi’s chilling message came shortly
after it was revealed that nine Trinidadian nationals were detained in
Turkey trying to infiltrate into Syria to fight alongside ISIS, continuing
to demonstrate the significant lure that ISIS has for elements of the
Trinidadian Muslim population.
3
Trinidad’s Muslim community has not remained immune to the
globalisation of the jihadist movement, being susceptible to the lure
of the radical doctrines espoused elsewhere. There is no doubt that
the internet is one of the most potent recruiting tools for jihadist
propaganda and to spread the message of ISIS. However, it is difficult to
ascertain how many Trinidadians may have been radicalised through
the internet, though it is beyond doubt that ISIS has used the internet
as one of its primary recruiting tools to attract foreign fighters.
4
That
some recruits from the Caribbean may have been recruited through
the internet was hinted at in comments by General John Kelly, head
of America’s Southern Command and whose area of responsibility
includes the Caribbean.
5
In Trinidad, the internet campaign has the
additional support of local groups such as the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen,
and its loose affiliates such as the Jamaat al Islami al Karibi, the
Waajihatul Islaamiyyah and the Jamaat al Murabiteen. Al-Muslimeen
has openly associated itself with Al-Qaeda and has proclaimed its
intention of establishing an Islamic state in Trinidad.
6
This plethora of ideologically affiliated groups has enabled ISIS to
be surprisingly effective in recruiting Trinidadian youth to its cause.
Although numbers vary wildly, it is clear that a substantial number of
Trinidadians are fighting with ISIS. In 2015, no fewer than 35 had been
identified as fighting for ISIS with other family members supporting
them actively bringing the total to 89.
7
By 2016, this figure may well
be an underestimate as figures discussed in Trinidad’s Parliament
have placed the numbers at anywhere between 102 and a staggering
400.
8
Trinidadian police intelligence suggests that between 10 and 15
Trinidadians have been killed fighting for ISIS so far, although reliable
information is difficult to obtain.
9
Trinidadians became “poster boys” for an ISIS recruiting video
made in late 2015 which included their children.
10
Indeed, in the said
video, one identifying himself as Abu Zayd al-Muhajir had brought
his three children to Syria in the Ar-Raqqah province while another
– Abu Khalid, a Christian convert – used the video to proclaim that
Muslims in Trinidad were “restricted”. This was echoed by Zayd al-
Muhajir and yet another Trinidadian, Abu Abdullah, who went so far
as to encourage Muslims in Trinidad to support ISIS and its ambition
of creating an Islamic Caliphate. A recurring theme was that Islam
in Trinidad is being “restricted” – a statement without basis in fact,
but one which has found unusual resonance among elements of the
Trinidadian population.
Traditionally, extremist doctrine found most traction with
Afro-Trinidadian converts to Islam, exemplified by the Jamaat-
al-Muslimeen and its affiliates. This may be a consequence of the
strong link between Islam and the 1970s Black Power movement in
the United States which found considerable resonance in Trinidad.
11
Yasin Abu Bakr, for example, openly courted the urban Afro-
Trinidadian youth in his sermons with a mix of Islamic doctrine and
Black Power rhetoric, preying upon feelings of discontent among the
Afro-Trinidadian urban poor.
12
It is of interest to note that the rural
poor have been less enamoured of this message and few recruits to
either ISIS or even the multitude of criminal gangs now operating in
Trinidad are from rural areas.
A disturbing trend has been observed wherein more Indo-
Trinidadian Muslims, usually moderate and well-integrated into
society, are succumbing to such propaganda. From the jihadist
viewpoint, the Indo-Trinidadian Muslims, generally better educated
and wealthier than the Afro-Trinidadian converts, offer a potentially
attractive source of skilled and motivated manpower. Lured by Salafist
doctrine, both through social media and through an aggressive
campaign in many of Trinidad’s 85 mosques, young Muslims have
been targeted for recruitment including through the use of jihad
videos to attract potential recruits.
13
Indeed, a recruiting video
featuring a supposed Trinidadian ISIS fighter bearing the name Abu
Abdurahman al-Trinidadi sent shockwaves among the majority of
Muslims who are appalled, angered and concerned at the apparent
attraction that ISIS seems to have for too many Muslim youth.
14
Yet, it
is an unfortunate fact that neither the government nor the mainstream
Muslim leadership has been able to either mount a counter-narrative
or offer an explanation for the lure of ISIS to Trinidadian Muslims, with
3

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