PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):
WITH THREE days left in the month, March has turned out to be one of the bloodiest, as the murder toll in Trinidad and Tobago reached the 100 mark.
Figures released by the authorities show that 42 people have been killed so far this month, compared with 23 last year. The figures show that for the first three months of this year, 100 people were murdered, compared to 73 last year, an increase of 36.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, a British advisory deterring visitors from coming to Tobago has been upgraded again.
Tourism Secretary Neil Wilson has also confirmed receiving a letter from the Association of Tour Operators in the United Kingdom indicating its intention to advise passengers to stay away from Tobago.
Several airlines have also informed him that they will be cutting their services to the island.
The advisory reads that crimes against tourists in Tobago and the inability of the Tobago authorities, to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators was of serious concern.
BLOODY WEEKEND
On the weekend, police said that seven people were gunned down, including Colin Cudjoe, 31, and Vaughn Rick Ali, 39, who were hauled from their house in Diego Martin, west of Port-of-Spain, tied and gagged, and then shot.
Cudjoe had been freed of a murder charge last October, and Ali was on bail pending a trial on robbery charges.
Police said that Heston Joseph, 31, was shot and killed on Saturday night when he volun-teered to go to a nearby bar to buy beer for his niece's birthday party.
Last year, more than 370 people were murdered in Trinidad and Tobago.
Meanwhile, President George Maxwell Richards, addressing a Rotary Club function at the weekend, warned that "our youths are on a collision course with disaster from which some of them do not recover."
Trinidad Express contributed to this story.
