After toiling in the Trinmar tank farms for the past decade, Anthony Aqui will be one of those without a job come December 1 as a result of the impending closure of Petrotrin. But Aqui was brought to tears yesterday when the Santa Flora home he had pumped thousands of dollars into for his children was reduced to rubble by a contractor who demolished his and several other homes in the community. Two more homes are expected to be demolished today on the order of Petrotirn management.
From about 9 am, dump trucks and an excavator rolled into La Victoria Street, Santa Flora, demolishing homes that families once occupied. There were scenes as grief as some residents had to rush home from work only to find the structures already destroyed.
As emotions ran high the residents blocked the excavators, causing police to clear the scene. Even the demolition crew expressed sadness at having to destroy the homes but said they were operating on orders.
One youngster was almost arrested for using obscene language, but officers let him off with a warning after residents made an appeal on his behalf.
Aqui, who was one of the residents trying to quell a showdown, exploded when the excavators started ripping apart the foundation and pillars of the home he had started to build for his two children. They currently live in a plywood house next to the foundation which he said was constantly under threat of collapsing because of flooding.
“I am finishing work on the 30th and when Trinmar is gone there is nothing for me. This real hurting me because I sacrificed my life for my family.
“I live here with my two children, their mother is gone, my daughter is in the final year of school and instead of picking up a crime, I worked hard to start this foundation. This cost me more than $40,000 and now they mash it up like it is nothing,” Aqui said.
He said over a decade ago a former Palo Seco Agricultural Enterprises Ltd (PSAEL) worker assured him he could be comfortable on the land. He said several years later he approached the company to purchase the land but has been given the run-around. Last year, he received a letter saying he was required to move but there was no date and indication there would be any demolition.
Marcus Butler scratched his head when asked what he would tell his six-year-old son two-year-old daughter when they returned from school and daycare and realised there was no more home.
Butler, a construction labourer, said he was at work on a site in San Fernando when someone contacted his foreman indicating his house was being destroyed. When he returned home, he only met the ruins of his home.
“They didn’t take anything out of my house, they just broke it down with everything inside. I had my tank under a shed and it is mashed up now,” Butler said.
“When I came down here everything was exposed and they told me I have to wait 30 days to get back whatever they took because my material is going quite Sando. I have nothing right now, they broke down my house with everything in it. I called my wife and she was crying. I don’t know what to do now because I am still owing the credit union for my house.”
Community activist Victor Roberts said police and Petrotrin security indicated they had instructions to demolish six houses on the street. Roberts said despite homeowners not being home at the time the contractor, without paperwork, broke down the houses. He said based on the information he received, the lands will be given to retrenched Petrotrin employees as part of their separation packages.
The residents, some of whom have lived in the community for over 30 years, were told they were squatting on lands owned by Trintopec, one of two companies that merged to form Petrotrin. However, a Petrotrin insider said not all Trintopec assets were vested into Petrotrin and as such is still owned by Trintopec, a legacy company whose lands are managed by the PSAEL. Efforts to contact PSAEL yesterday were unsuccessful.