T&T gov’t faces skepticism over ‘death plot’

PORT OF SPAIN,  (Reuters) – Trinidad and Tobago’s  prime minister came under public pressure yesterday to reveal  more details of an alleged death plot against her that she  blamed on criminals fighting back against a government  crackdown.

On TV and radio talk shows and newspaper blogs, many  citizens of the twin-island Caribbean gas and oil producer were  expressing skepticism about the assassination plot, which Prime  Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced on Thursday had been  uncovered against her and several of her ministers.

Police said nearly a dozen people had been arrested,  including members of the army and police, but authorities have  not given more details, citing the need to maintain security in  operations to dismantle the plot.

Persad-Bissessar, a former attorney general who won May  2010 elections, placed the blame for the national security  alert on criminals linked to the drugs trade. She said they  were resisting a state of emergency declared in August to stem  a surge in murders, violent crime and gang activity.

“We are hurting them in their pockets … We are flushing  them out,” said Persad-Bissessar, the first woman prime  minister of the multiracial country of 1.3 million people.

The Caribbean state, the top supplier of liquefied natural  gas to the United States, has experienced a spike in murders  blamed on drug trafficking and related turf wars. Lying just  off Venezuela, it is a trans-shipment point for South American  cocaine headed to Europe and the United States.

Persad-Bissessar’s government has been struggling to revive  a faltering, largely energy dependent economy and to attract  fresh foreign investors, especially in the oil and gas sector  where new capital is needed to boost waning reserves.

Many citizens expressed doubts about the announced  assassination plot, suggesting the premier and her government  might be seeking to bolster sagging political support and win  sympathy in Trinidad’s rough-and-tumble local politics.