Opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley was shocked, shocked, and outraged, at the AG's suggestion last week that the PNM encouraged crime, and, gasp, might even have consorted with criminals and encouraged them to commit crime. The gentleman was so overwrought, you might have forgotten the photo of his erstwhile Cabinet colleague Roger Boynes which appeared on the front page of a daily newspaper (September 17, 2007) with a gang leader, in a meeting at Crowne Plaza, whereafter the gangs were given million-dollar contracts.
But (for the kids of all ages out there) the PNM's open and symbiotic association with crime didn't start in 2007. It started half-century before. Eric Williams's early disciples included a group of heroic community activists (otherwise known as thugs) from the John John area called the Marabuntas, who accompanied Williams on his trips to the wilderness of Central Trinidad and elsewhere during the '56 campaign. At election time, they (or other criminals) went around picking fights at political meetings with non-PNM supporters.
Letters to the editor in the Guardian during the '56, '58, and '61 elections campaigns complained of thuggery at meetings, where PNM supporters would either beat up or intimidate those who did not look like "traditional" PNM supporters.
But the PNM's relationship with criminality is/was not just consorting with, and having a membership which included, working criminals. The PNM literally brought crime with it into power. From 1996�2001, crime fell dramatically. From 2002 to 2010, it rose to the levels that terrify us today. This mirrors another era. From 1950�1955 (the Gomes government) crime declined. From 1956-1966 reported crimes went from about 35,000 to more than 53,000. (See the Annual Statistical Digest 22 for 1970.)
http://www.guardian.co.tt/digital/new-members