(Trinidad Guardian) Two letters purporting to originate from a fundamentalist religious sect were sent to two top members of the Peoples National Movement (PNM) last Friday, warning that if they did not step down from the PNM’s executive, they would be assassinated. The death threats sent ripples of fear within the PNM membership and sources said immediate arrangements were put in place to protect the politicians and investigate the source of the letter. Last night, La Brea MP Fitzgerald Jeffrey, who was also the subject of a death threat on June 10, 2006, called on National Security Minister John Sandy to immediately put all security arrangements in place to protect his colleagues. Sources said the first handwritten letter was sent to one of the Opposition MPs Friday morning.
The letter instructed that the senior official immediately step down from the Opposition as he was blocking the success of the PNM party. The anonymous writer informed the MP that his days were numbered should he fail to comply. Hours later, the other senior MP also got a similar death threat via a second letter. However, sources said the letter contained worrisome information about the names and whereabouts of that MP’s family. Both letters were sent to the Port-of-Spain CID. Acting Supt of the Port-of-Spain CID Gary Edwards immediately instructed officers to interview the two senior PNM officials, as well as to investigate the source of the script. Contacted at his home last night, former prime minister Patrick Manning refused to comment on the death threats.
He said: “I am not commenting on that. As you know, I talk through my lawyer, so contact him.” One of the PNM MPs, who was contacted on his mobile phone last night, denied receiving any death threat, even though senior police sources confirmed the threats. He said: “I am not aware of that. I cannot talk right now, but I will call you back.” He took this reporter’s mobile number and promised to return the call. The other was not available on his home or cellular lines and did not respond to messages left up to 7.30 pm. However, Jeffrey, when contacted said neither of the officials had mentioned the death threats when the PNM’s executive met for a meeting on Saturday. That meeting ended after 7 pm. Jeffrey said he was very concerned by the prevalence of death threats and said that it was an attack on T&T’s democratic system of governance.
“It is unfortunate for this to happen, given the kind of democracy we have. We have already witnessed the repercussions of the 1990 attempted coup and our nation cannot take on anything like that again. The police should investigate that letter because that is a serious thing,” Jeffrey said. He added: “Let us assume that someone was to get assassinated, the entire politics of this land will change. We must allow the democratic process to continue. Once this assassination thing starts, people will be scared to go into politics. “A lot of people who have the country’s interest at heart will be in fear of offering themselves for service because their privacy will be compromised.” Jeffrey said after his life was threatened in 2006, the Ministry of National Security took all precautions to safeguard him, and he hoped that the same would be done for them. Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs and Minister of National Security John Sandy could not be reached for comment up to late last night.
