TRINBAGO: The Gaslight Kingdom - Statistics, Scapegoats, and the State of Emergency Illusion

FHIST NEWS wrote a new article:

Article

TRINBAGO: The Gaslight Kingdom - Statistics, Scapegoats, and the State of Emergency Illusion

The Gaslight Kingdom: Statistics, Scapegoats, and the State of Emergency Illusion

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s latest social media victory lap regarding national security is a stark masterclass in political narrative control. In a country where citizens live locked behind burglar proofing, terrified of the next home invasion, the Prime Minister expects the public to applaud a highly curated, 15 percent drop in serious nationwide crimes.

The disconnect between official rhetoric and the…

FHIST NEWS

July 27, 2026 at 2:10 PM

Quote

The Gaslight Kingdom: Statistics, Scapegoats, and the State of Emergency Illusion

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s latest social media victory lap regarding national security is a stark masterclass in political narrative control. In a country where citizens live locked behind burglar proofing, terrified of the next home invasion, the Prime Minister expects the public to applaud a highly curated, 15 percent drop in serious nationwide crimes.

The disconnect between official rhetoric and the…

WHOO CHILE.. check out Pearce Robinson's EXCLUSIVE report.

GOVERNMENT WHISTLEBLOWER ALLEGES MASS SURVEILLANCE AND AI PROFILING OF CITIZENS

By Pearce Robinson

This is an exclusive report.

A government whistleblower with direct knowledge of Trinidad and Tobago’s intelligence apparatus has told me that the intercepted conversation involving Genevieve Hadeed and Star Sabga is only a fraction of the recordings the State holds. There are many more. According to the source, after the October 2025 restructuring of oversight of the Strategic Services Agency, control of the SSA, particularly its communications command was placed under the Office of the Attorney General. A specific mandate was then issued for comprehensive monitoring of the Syrian-Lebanese community. The operation involves near-daily interception and analysis of communications between families, business associates, community leaders, public figures and politically connected persons.

The source states that the surveillance produced detailed intelligence maps of family relationships, associates, financial connections, assets, business interests, political relationships and personal objectives. Prominent families were mapped through their private conversations, commercial relationships and contacts with persons in political or public positions. The result is a comprehensive picture of the community’s internal structure, alliances, financial networks, concerns and private views. The whistleblower says the operation then expanded far beyond that community. It now covers politicians, journalists, commentators, businesspeople, social-media personalities, lawyers, judges and ordinary citizens with public profiles, online followings or political engagement.

Lawyers are monitored whether they act for or against the Government on any matter. According to the source, judges, all of them are monitored. The programme, the source states, seeks information on their personal relationships and any private associations that could create vulnerability or influence. Interceptions and digital monitoring continue daily. Priority is given to anyone who shapes public discussion or influences how citizens interpret political events. Part of the intelligence is used to determine what citizens say privately about the Government, what concerns them, what frustrates them, which institutions they trust, and how they are likely to respond to policies or controversies. That information informs communications strategies that design political messages around the fears, loyalties, interests and psychological characteristics of specific communities and individuals.

Artificial-intelligence software converts citizens into detailed political, social, financial and psychological profiles. Intercepted and publicly available data are organised into individual data points so that political communication can be tailored with precision. Some of the data is processed or stored on foreign servers.

The whistleblower states they possess video and audio evidence of an instruction the source describes as illegal, issued by a senior official. The source says that if individuals concerned move against agents who are not comfortable with what is taking place, that material may enter the public domain. The source further states that one strategy discussed internally is to project the image of a government that is no-nonsense and serious about crime by deploying every resource available against those it identifies as criminal elements. Public statements by senior officials align with that approach.

Attorney General John Jeremie has said the Government is “at war with the gangs,” that it will go after white-collar criminals and those who facilitate organised crime, and that it took “the most dramatic action available under the Constitution” with “no apologies.” Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander has said the Government does not intend “to allow the criminal elements to run free.” Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has stated that dangers from transnational crime will be addressed “using every necessary resource and every legally available authority.” According to the whistleblower, the surveillance programme also reflects a long-held view, held by a particular public official, that members of the Syrian-Lebanese community are responsible for certain nefarious activities. The source states that this official was unable to act on that view the last time they held a position of similar influence.

These disclosures sit against the detention of Dominic and Genevieve Hadeed under emergency powers over an alleged assassination conspiracy. They were held for almost one month without charge. The Preventive Detention Review Tribunal recommended their release. The Court of Appeal ordered conditional release. The State appealed to the Privy Council. The couple were freed after the Privy Council declined to accelerate the State’s case. Reuters reported civil-society concern over preventive detention, the absence of charges, and the use of extraordinary security powers.

The preventive detention orders issued under the Emergency Powers Regulations 2026 share structural features with Israel’s administrative detention framework under the Emergency Powers (Detention) Law 1979 and the earlier Defence (Emergency) Regulations 1945: detention without charge on security grounds, based on intelligence assessments, subject to periodic review, and often with limited disclosure of the underlying evidence. Trinidad and Tobago has also taken recent steps to strengthen diplomatic relations with Israel, including the designation of certain organisations as terrorist groups and the presentation of credentials by a new Israeli ambassador.

Shortly before the April 2025 general election, Canadian consultancy Dunn Pierre Barnett and Company (DPBA) published a data-driven forecast predicting a UNC victory. After the election, DPBA described the result as a “data-centric playbook” that used artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, behavioural science, psychographic profiling, social-media monitoring and continual adaptation of political messages. DPBA said its technology scans campaign images, videos, memes, slogans and emotional cues, monitors public reactions, and classifies voters by age, ethnicity, religion, employment, geography, education and personal interests. The company stated it holds information on more than 60 million people across approximately 40 countries, including Trinidad and Tobago. DPBA characterised its Trinidad and Tobago analysis as independently undertaken.

The methods match those associated with Cambridge Analytica and its parent SCL Group: large-scale data acquisition, demographic and psychological segmentation, continuous measurement of voter reactions, and calibrated messaging. Christopher Wylie, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, told the UK Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee that Trinidad and Tobago was one of SCL’s earliest political laboratories. He testified that the project involved Trinidad and Tobago’s National Security Ministry, described Cambridge Analytica as a “full service propaganda machine,” and said the Trinidad operation formed part of the foundation for techniques later used in the United Kingdom and the United States. Wylie described the work as data and communication mining and stated that populations were subjected to psychological experimentation without their knowledge.

Steve Bannon supervised Cambridge Analytica’s early programme to collect Facebook data and build psychological profiles of American voters. He treated data analytics as a tool for reshaping political identity, directing anger, weakening opponents and mobilising voters. That work fed into the broader movement that produced Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led blueprint for expanding presidential control over the executive branch, reorganising federal agencies, and replacing career officials with political appointees. After Trump returned to office, multiple executive actions tracked Project 2025 recommendations on federal employment, regulation, immigration, energy and administrative control.

Since returning to office, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has developed a close relationship with the Trump administration. She has backed American security policies in the Caribbean, strengthened military and diplomatic cooperation, and described President Trump as a brave and visionary leader. She met Trump in March 2026. Trinidad and Tobago has hosted senior United States military officials, expanded regional security cooperation, accepted radar infrastructure and United States Marines in Tobago, and supported American military action against alleged drug-trafficking vessels. The whistleblower’s account describes State intelligence capabilities, artificial intelligence and behavioural profiling operating together to map communities and produce targeted political communications. The interceptions now reach well beyond any single community or any single conversation.

The Government must disclose the legal authority for the interceptions, the agencies conducting them, the artificial-intelligence systems in use, the categories of citizens being profiled, every contractor and foreign entity with access to the data, the location of the servers, and the officials authorised to use the resulting intelligence. It must state whether intercepted communications have informed political messaging, public-relations strategy, electoral planning or decisions about individuals and communities. Parliament must require preservation and independent examination of all interception records, procurement documents, software agreements, data-processing contracts, access logs, ministerial instructions and communications involving the SSA and any domestic or foreign technology provider. The courts, the Data Protection Commissioner and independent human-rights bodies must determine whether citizens’ information has been collected, transferred, analysed or used beyond the purposes authorised by law.

According to the source, the original mandate targeted the entire Syrian-Lebanese community in order to map relationships, financial networks, business interests, assets, influence and internal dynamics. The programme then expanded to journalists, politicians, commentators, businesspeople, social-media personalities, lawyers (regardless of the side they represent), judges, and citizens with significant public profiles. Intercepted communications are combined with public data and analysed by artificial intelligence to produce profiles of concerns, relationships, beliefs and likely responses to political events. Those profiles inform communications strategies aimed at specific audiences. There are more recordings. The interceptions extend further than the public has been told.

Was a specific instruction issued to monitor the Syrian-Lebanese community as a whole? Are intercepted communications analysed with artificial intelligence for political or strategic communications purposes? Are lawyers monitored irrespective of the side they represent? Are judges monitored, including in respect of their personal relationships? How did a recording obtained through State interception enter the public domain? Who authorised its release? Was there an internal investigation? Were any officers disciplined?

The public is entitled to answers.