Arts and Multiculturalism Minister Winston "Gypsy" Peters says "certain aspects" of last year's Carnival should have been retained to make this year's "better." However, in the same breath, he said Carnival 2012 was "very much better." Peters said he couldn't state what the "couple of aspects" were, but assured they would be announced at a later time. "I can't go into all of it now, but there are a couple of things, but just to say to you that this year is very much better, but last year had some aspects that we have to ensure we keep," he said.
Speaking at the Grand Stand, Queen's Park Savannah, yesterday, Peters said he was pleased with the celebrations and that while it was too soon to give a post-mortem, he was happy with what he had seen up to 4.30 pm yesterday. "So far it has been good, but it is not finished as yet and you know, one minute can mar a whole event so let us keep our fingers crossed," he said. "So far, it is going very good and we hope God helps us to keep it that way."
Peters said he was kept abreast of crime and safety by police and other stakeholders and was informed that Carnival was "incident-free." However, in a separate interview, president of the National Carnival Bandleaders' Association David Lopez said on Monday night at the Piccadilly Greens, east Port-of-Spain, that several members of a mas band were allegedly robbed. Peters said he had not been informed about that alleged incident. "I haven't heard about it, but if that is so, it is quite unfortunate. I hope it is not so," he said.
"It is very uncanny that they would say Piccadilly." He said Carnival was a lot of work and he was happy that the hard work had paid off. "Everything is going good, it has been incident–free and I'm happy about that," Peters said.