Both the Par­lia­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go and Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar have is­sued state­ments mark­ing the 35th an­niver­sary of the 1990 at­tempt­ed coup.

In a me­dia re­lease, the Par­lia­ment said the events of Ju­ly 27, 1990, plunged the coun­try in­to “the abyss of un­cer­tain­ty and vi­o­lence”.

It said lives were lost, many were in­jured, and the col­lec­tive psy­che of the na­tion was left shak­en.

“The ef­fects of this trau­mat­ic episode still echoes to­day. Yet, even amidst the hor­ror and con­fu­sion, there emerged re­silience and courage,” the state­ment read.

The Par­lia­ment paid trib­ute to those who en­dured im­mense phys­i­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal trau­ma and who, de­spite it all, con­tin­ued to serve the Re­pub­lic with ho­n­our and dig­ni­ty.

It cred­it­ed the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go for re­ject­ing vi­o­lence and stand­ing firm in de­fence of democ­ra­cy.

“Those who be­lieved the pub­lic would sup­port this vi­o­lent mis­ad­ven­ture grave­ly mis­judged the strength of our de­mo­c­ra­t­ic con­vic­tions,” it said.

“The peo­ple’s re­jec­tion of vi­o­lence and un­wa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to law, or­der, and the de­mo­c­ra­t­ic process, is a bea­con of our col­lec­tive will and moral com­pass.”

The Par­lia­ment al­so recog­nised the ef­forts of po­lice of­fi­cers, de­fence force per­son­nel, pub­lic ser­vants, par­lia­men­tar­i­ans, med­ical work­ers, se­cu­ri­ty of­fi­cers and mem­bers of the me­dia—many of whom went be­yond the call of du­ty dur­ing those dark and un­cer­tain days.

It added, “Though the pas­sage of time may blur de­tails, we must nev­er for­get. Re­mem­brance en­sures that his­to­ry is not lost to si­lence. It ac­knowl­edges the pain of the past while pre­serv­ing the truth for fu­ture gen­er­a­tions.”