Smart: Coup still hurts TT

“The event certainly cast a shadow over the country that still lies there. We haven’t exorcised the event from our psyche.”

He backed the now-yearly calls for a probe into the coup.

“I have been saying it over and over again that we need to have a proper investigation into what happened on this day 16 years ago. I see Winston Dookeran has called for it.

“If ever one has the opportunity to make decisions for the country again, I think that would be certainly a decision that would be made that we should investigate this thing.”

Smart said he had previously called for the University of the West Indies to hold a symposium on the coup.

“Get all the players — the good and the bad — to talk about it, because we can’t send anybody to jail or hang anybody for treason or murder, but we can certainly have a proper record.”

He said the country only has imperfect accounts of what had happened, but for posterity we now need to have a clear, proper and correct record of what transpired.

Smart said he laid a wreath in his personal capacity because the coup was an important event from which the country could learn a lot if properly dealt with. “But we are continuing to not deal with it, those in office, and I think it is having an effect on the well-being of the people of this country, having a severe effect. So we need to confront it.” Former NAR Government Minister, Gloria Henry, in her address said persons present during the attempted coup still could not forget the event. “We would be wise to learn the important lessons of the indicators that preceded the disorder and the behaviour that followed.”

Saying those who forget history are doomed to repeat its errors, she said, “Wisdom dictates that we take heed.”

House of Representatives Speaker, Barry Sinanan, said the country today reaffirms its belief in the Constitution, democracy, liberty and the rule of law.