This country has announced EMERGENCY due to increasing violence, not Bangladesh, Pakistan, it is...

In December, Trinidad and Tobago found itself grappling with a wave of violence so severe that the government declared a state of emergency on December 30. With December alone witnessing 67 fatalities, the annual death toll has soared to a staggering 623—marking the nation's deadliest year since 2013.

This level of violence is a grim reminder for a country with just 1.5 million people in the struggle it faces with high murder rates-a problem shared by other Caribbean nations, such as Jamaica and Haiti. The region's violent crime rates are nearly three times the global average, the US Government Accountability Office has stated.

The current violence escalated from a targeted attack Saturday when armed attackers shot a notorious gang leader as he was leaving a police station. The retaliation took five men's lives on Sunday. In the previous days, several people were already killed through gun violence; 15 in one week.

National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds stated that the "use of these high-calibre firearms by the criminal gangs was a reflection of the growing phenomenon across the Caribbean, and not a trend that can be wished away." Acting Attorney-General Stuart Young pointed out that this increase in weaponry, for the most part imported, is behind the violence. Trinidad and Tobago does not manufacture firearms; however, it has seized over 7,000 weapons from 2018 to 2022, where 75 per cent were from the United States.

The emergency measures by the government signal its intention to crack down on the spiraling violence. But for a nation reeling from its bloodiest year in recent memory, the road to restoring safety and stability is fraught with challenges.