Society & Crime
From the ashes of colonialism, slavery and loss of history and language, the unrooted mingling of people from all continents of the world, rises the phoenix that is Trinidad and Tobago.
It is a percolating new world identity with people of all continents with all its complex dissonance: the tribal voting, yet its peaceful and unfailingly democratic elections; the annual Carnival of a callaloo of people who mingle joyously.
Trinidad and Tobago is also plagued with one of the highest rates of gang-related murders in a non-warring country and a soaring incidence of domestic violence, yet are also people who soundly rejected an attempted coup; T&T has a flagging justice system, yet there is a strong separation of powers, T&T has poverty yet has given universal access of health and education to all citizens. It is overly dependent on oil and gas as a basis of its economy, yet innovations such as the Steelband, the only musical instrument created in this past century and native talent is manifested in every field; It has been vulnerable to terror groups such to ISIS, yet remains a space where all people celebrate all religions together.
Situated between the foothills of the Northern Range and the sea, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago's capital and largest city is colourful and bustling but its environs is also home to some 250-300 drug-fuelled gangs largely responsible for the countries high murder rate of some 500 people a year.