​A US-based Trinidadian is disrupting the beverage industry with a universal non-alcoholic mixer influenced by one of his grandfather’s recipes.

Zurena offers a portfolio of simple and versatile Caribbean drink mixes made with lemons, limes, passion fruit, mango, and Caribbean spices. Packaged in a 750ML bottle, the all-natural, sodium-free, gluten-free, and fat-free mixes come in two flavors: Tropical and Ginger, each with 15 grams of sugar per serving.
Founder and owner Nigel Smith describes the product as “magic,” as it can be added to any dark or white spirit, beer, wine, bubbly, club soda, juice, or tea to create high-quality Caribbean cocktails in seconds, without the need for professional mixology skills.
Tasting Panel Magazine gave Zurena 89 points, making it the first non-alcoholic mixer to be graded by the magazine. Zurena is more than just a drink to Smith; it is about “Uplifting Spirits,” a term he has trademarked. As a sponsor at Audi Fields, Smith infuses Caribbean aesthetics into his marketing, with a campaign called Lucky Row, where groups of people are selected and given fedora hats, sunglasses, and mocktails made with Zurena, and encouraged to dance to soca music.
Smith is also honoring the legacy of his grandfather, Carlton Smith, a bartender and mixologist who entrusted secret recipes to his children and grandchildren. Zurena is available in bars and retailers in Washington DC, Maryland, Texas, and Grenada, and Smith is looking to expand to other Caribbean markets. (Source: The Caribbean Camera, March 21, 2023)

Stakeholders have welcomed Erla Christopher’s appointment as TT’s new Commissioner of Police and the first woman in the country’s history to fill the seat of top cop.
But they warn that she will have some tough times ahead in not only attempting to rebrand the image of the Police Service but in minimising the fear of crime among a citizenry desperate for solutions.
Last Friday, Christopher was unanimously approved by the Parliament as the country’s next Commissioner of Police.
Criminologist Prof Ramesh Deosaran said Christopher assumes the position at “a very critical time” in the country given the state of public fear.
“It is not only the statistics but the epidemic of public fear of crime with the mounting increase not only in murders, which crossed 600 last year, but the increasing number of home invasions,” he said.
“So this means the right to private property is being severely attacked in a society that is supposed to be democratic. It means, therefore, that this new commissioner would have to save the democracy of the country in specific ways – the first being to remove the widespread fear in the public mind because with that fear, all other freedoms and rights will diminish.”
Deosaran said Christopher’s task will not just be to “look at statistics and hold meetings in Port of Spain headquarters,” but to help restore and maintain the challenges of democracy in the country.
Gender Affairs scholar and newspaper columnist Dr Gabrielle Hosein welcomed Christopher’s history-making accomplishment.
“All firsts are significant as women are still breaking the glass ceiling, the level of seniority which they could see but never reach because it was reserved for men,” she commented.
“The appointment of Erla Christopher is worthy of celebration. It’s also worthy that her appointment was widely supported by both sides of the House. I expect that for women in the police force, seeing this first must be inspirational as it should be.”


But Hosein noted that historically, women usually come into such leadership when there are established problems to solve, whether in relation to crime or other issues, like climate change.
Saying that these were problems that developed over periods when women did not have power over their response to solutions, she added, “We must keep in mind that the problem of crime and justice cannot be solved quickly or easily so realistic expectations are necessary.”
Hosein said women also experience what is called the “glass cliff,” in that they are few and far between at the top and yet are seen as a sex to not be competent when they cannot make miracles, “as women are often expected to do.”
In such situations, she said, society loses faith in womens’ different approaches and capabilities.
“The terrain for success and failure is always gendered and the problems of crime and justice remains one that fundamentally intersect masculinity.”
Criminologist Darius Figuera said Christopher’s appointment as police commissioner is a sign that TT has “finally entered the 21st century.”
He said she must now rise to the challenge.
“What we expect now is that Ms Christopher will exhibit all the leadership qualities that are demanded for the realities that we find ourselves in on a daily basis.”
Figuera believes Christopher is quite capable of fulfilling her mandate.
“I know for a fact that she does in fact have the desired leadership qualities and the knowledge base necessary for the job in this present juncture in our history. So, I am very, very assured with the appointment.”
(Source: The Caribbean Camera, March 22, 2023)

Chaguaramas Naval Base was one of the eight bases, popularly known as "Destroyer Bases" because of their acquisition from Britain in exchange for over-age destroyers. Individually and collectively they were of significant value in that they afforded strategically located sites upon which to base tactical and patrol aircraft for the control of the Caribbean.
The United States arrived in Trinidad on the 10 October 1940 on the USS St. Louis. The U.S. Navy Department received authority to enter Trinidad on January 13, 1941. Final lease agreements for all the bases were consummated March 27, 1941.
Groundwork of the site for the naval base and air station commenced on 1 March 1941 and ceremonial possession took place on 31 March. The base was commissioned on Friday, 1 June 1941. By 1942, Trinidad became a naval in service base outfitted with a section base; net, supply and fuel depots; a hospital; a degaussing range; and ship restore facilities. It achieved full operation in 1943.
At first, there were some difficulties as the local government did not have a clear picture of the agreement between the British and the United States governments concerning the use of the leased areas, and it was necessary for the Bureau to secure temporary leases in order to avoid delaying construction until such matters as customs, taxes, wharfage fees, and wage rates for local labor could be settled.
The strategically important island of Trinidad, commanding a vulnerable approach to the Panama Canal and the South American trade routes, lies off the coast of Venezuela. It is roughly 35 by 55 miles, with two long, narrow peninsulas extending westward toward the continent to form the Gulf of Paria, completely landlocked except for two easily guarded channels, each 7 miles wide.
The site for the naval shore establishment, on the northwest tip of the island, was acquired under two separate lease agreements, the first of which, dated April 22, 1941, involved 7,940 acres, including five small islands in the Gulf of Paria, the property of the Crown.
The second acquisition, made during December 1942, involved 3,800 privately owned acres. The site consisted principally of steep hills and ridges, interspersed with flat valleys extending from four well-defined bays along the southern shore of the northwest peninsula.
This location had the patent advantage of being remote from Port of Spain, the principal Trinidad city and port. From an engineering standpoint the flag areas along the shore, though limited, contained a minimum of swampy lowland, and the bay waters, with a minimum of dredging, were deep enough for accessibility by ships.
The four bays -- Carenage, Chaguaramus, Teteron, and Scotland -- and two valleys -- Chaguaramus and Tucker -- each became the locale of a separate naval activity. Of the 11,740 acres acquired, only 1,200 acres were developed, at widely separated locations.
Development and fortification of each base took into account the limitations imposed by location and character of terrain. Trinidad was major air base. For immediate strategic reasons, Trinidad, was given top priority and eventually became most important base for the operation of ships as well as aircraft.
At the very beginning of the construction NAS Chaguaramas, as a major air base, as visualized by the Greenslade Board, for the installation of emergency shore facilities to house a Marine detachment, with complete facilities for operation, storage, and supply, engine overhaul, and complete periodic general overhaul of all types of planes. A secondary air base was a smaller installation, having facilities primarily for the operation, routine upkeep, and emergency repair of aircraft.
Development was initiated by the Bureau of Yards and Docks on October 30, 1940, by assigning to the fixed-fee contract then operating at San Juan, the task of purchasing the necessary materials and equipment in advance of operations on the site. This beginning permitted the preliminary work attending a project of this magnitude to progress simultaneously with the negotiations attending the transfer of these Crown lands.
The Greenslade Board submitted its recommendations to the Secretary of the Navy on October 27, 1940, and tentative leases for the lands required were drawn, based on these findings; the necessary topographic and hydrographic surveys were begun. Remoteness of the sites, unknown bidding conditions, and the pressing necessity for speed contributed to the decision to undertake the construction at each location by negotiated cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts.
The original plans for Trinidad called for the immediate construction of a naval air station with facilities to support the operation of one patrol squadron of seaplanes and the development of a protected fleet anchorage in the Gulf of Paria. The ultimate goal was the development of a subsidiary operating base and a major air station with facilities for two patrol squadrons and the temporary operation of two carrier groups.
On January 24, 1941, a fixed-fee contract was awarded covering the construction of the air station and the first installment of dredging. Construction operations, which began during March, were confined to the Carenage Bay area. Included in the initial phase of the program were a 500-by-50-foot tender pier, seaplane facilities, including a concrete-paved beach and a macadam parking area, two concrete seaplane ramps, a steel hangar and control tower, gasoline storage, and associated industrial, storage, administration, and personnel buildings. These major features of the station were of a permanent character, built of steel and concrete.
During the early months of the construction period the contractor's efforts were devoted to the many preliminaries attending a project of this magnitude. It was necessary to relocate a settlement of several hundred persons, build access roads, develop a quarry, and perform extensive clearing operations. One of the earliest projects undertaken was, of necessity, an aggressive campaign to combat malaria. Swampy bogs along the shore and the wet lowlands of Tucker Valley were drained, sprayed with oil, and later filled with dredged material. A force of 200 men devoted full time to the malaria program during the life of the contract.
Almost from its inception, the Trinidad contract, by a steady increase of added projects to its scope, reflected the trend of world events. The first increase, made in June 1941, was directed toward developing Trinidad as a fleet base. A net depot, additional dredging, a fueling pier, and a fuel and diesel-oil storage depot were added to the contact. The fuel storage comprised five 27,000-barrel steel tanks and two 27,000-barrel pre-stressed-concrete tanks. The fueling pier was a 450-by-50-foot structure with a composite deck of concrete and laminated wood.
Dredging operations, begun in August 1941, were continued over a two-year period, during which time a total of 13,000,000 yards of material was moved to provide navigable channels to the various piers, water approaches to the seaplane base, a fleet anchorage in Carenage Bay, and the fill necessary to reclaim waterfront area. Of this total, more than 2,000,000 yards were placed in swamps to eliminate mosquito-breeding areas.
Shortly after the declaration of war, the long-range plans made for Trinidad were translated into a vigorous construction program through a series of major additions made to the contract during 1942. The first of these, a section base at Teteron Bay, was incorporated with the air station on February 20. At the same time, contracts were let for five large fleet warehouses and a radio station, a high-power link in the major radio network of the Western Hemisphere. The station was located in Chaguaramus Valley and was of unusual design in that its main antennae were strung across the valley, supported by the mountain ridges on either side.
In March construction of a 150-bed hospital in upper Tucker Valley was begun. May brought new additions to the air station, including a third seaplane ramp, additional parking area, and more personnel buildings, increasing the station's handling capacity to five squadrons of patrol planes. At the same time, two timber floating drydocks, one of 3,000-ton capacity and one of 1,000-ton capacity, were incorporated in the contract. These were built on the site, in two dredged basins especially equipped for the operation.
In June, work was started on two 250,000-gallon concrete gasoline tanks, built underground and connected to the water displacement system installed to handle aviation gasoline at the air station. The total capacity of liquid-fuel storage constructed was in excess of 7,900,000 gallons.
The United States entry into the war made U.S. shipping a target for enemy submarines, and Germany was quick to take advantage of this opportunity by incursions into Trinidad coastal waters in January 1942. A squadron of ten Army bombers, equipped with radar detection devices, began operating from Trinidad, to meet the shift in the U-boat threat. By this time the squadron had been augmented by several hundred bombers, both Navy and Army, under the operational control of the Navy.
The coastal convoy system was established in May and expanded, during the summer months, to the Gulf and the Caribbean. Notwithstanding these measures, there were five ships sunk between April and September, with cargo intended for Trinidad, which not only contributed to the cost but added considerable time loss. One of these ships carried the complete materials for a second seaplane hangar intended for the air station; the hangar was never built.
With each succeeding month during the summer of 1942 new projects were added. In August, a supply depot, comprising 20 large wooden warehouses with concrete floors, was begun on reclaimed swamp land in Chaguaramas Valley.
During September, work was started on the assembly of nine steel barges and the installation of a degaussing range on Pelican Island.
(Pelican Island is an island in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is one of “The Five Islands” group of six small islands lying west of Port of Spain in the Gulf of Paria. Caledonia Island, Craig Island, Lenagan Island, Nelson Island, Pelican Island and Rock Island.
At the start of WWII, the Germans developed a new magnetic trigger for mines, one based on the mine’s sensitivity to the magnetic field of a ship passing nearby. As set out here, the design of such mines fortuitously fell into British hands, allowing them to develop countermeasures for such mines: A ship or large ferrous object passing through the earth’s magnetic field will concentrate the field at that point. The mine’s detector was designed to go off at the mid-point of the ship passing overhead.
Degaussing is a process in which systems of electrical cables are installed around the circumference of ship’s hull, running from bow to stern on both sides. A measured electrical current is passed through these cables to cancel out the ship’s magnetic field. Degaussing equipment was installed in the hull of Navy ships and could be turned on whenever the ship was in waters that might contain magnetic mines, usually shallow waters in combat areas. It could be said that degaussing, correctly done, makes a ship “invisible” to the sensors of magnetic mines, but the ship remains visible to the human eye, radar, and underwater listening devices.
From the struggle to combat the German submarine menace and the strategic necessity for adequate strength to protect The U.S. southern flank in the Atlantic, came the decision to equip Trinidad with facilities for ship repair. Begun as an air station and commissioned as such on October 1, 1941, Trinidad, a year later, became a complete naval operating base, equipped with a section base, net, supply, and fuel depots, a hospital, a degaussing range, a radio station, and ship-repair facilities.
The work at the repair base, on Chaguaramus Bay, included extensive dredging and a waterfront development comprising four finger piers and a 1,800-foot quay wall. Two of these piers, one 350 feet and the other 600 feet long, were built on timber piles. The other two, 600 feet long, were supported by concrete piles.
In addition, the base was completely equipped with shops, an administration building, a power plant built of reinforced concrete and equipped with six 700-kw diesel generators, five 2-story barracks to house 1,000 men, officers' quarters, and a laundry.
These additions beyond the original plan brought about major changes in site planning, making it necessary to develop overall plans for highways, electric-power distribution, communications, and water and sewerage system.
A few roads of good surface quality existed on the reservation, but they had eventually to be replaced as a result of heavy usage or relocated as the station expanded. Of the 57 miles of roads built within the reservation, 30 miles were hard surfaced, 11 miles were given a heavy penetration, and the remainder were coral-surfaced or dirt. Fortunately, road-building materials were readily at hand -- native coral sand dredged from Carenage Bay and emulsified asphalt produced locally, combining to yield a durable wearing surface.
Tucker and Chaguaramus valleys, the two principal watersheds, contain water-bearing sand and gravel deposits which were developed as a source of water supply by means of 25 wells, driven at scattered locations. The wells were connected to a system of 20 reservoirs, so located as to maintain gravity pressure in the distribution mains. The water was chlorinated at each well and required no filtering.
All supervising personnel, and the majority of the skilled trades labor used in construction in Trinidad were hired in the States and brought to the station under contract. Upon these men fell the task of leading and teaching the local labor employed. Exclusive of a few outstanding individuals, the majority of the local workmen had received little or no education, were unaccustomed to United States procedures, and had difficulty in understanding the English of the continentals, who had equal difficulty understanding them. There was a definite caste distinction, not only among the different races but among the different employment classifications. They were temperamental among their own groups, which often resulted in serious fights, particularly between the men of Trinidad proper and those of the smaller islands. They had to be taught, checked, and coached, from the beginning of the operation to the end, which threw an enormous burden on the supervisors, intensified by the large labor turnover and the wide diversification of the project as a whole.
On December 30, 1942, when the 30th Construction Battalion arrived at Trinidad, the contractor was maintaining all completed and partially completed facilities in addition to performing his current construction program. The Seabees immediately took over the maintenance and operation of all completed or usably completed facilities, permitting the contractor to concentrate his personnel on construction work.
In January 1943, the Public Works Department was organized, officers and men of the 30th Battalion being assigned to the various maintenance and operating divisions. Those Seabees having specialized training were shifted into power house, refrigeration, transportation, and other activities. The remainder, other than administrative personnel, were used on minor construction jobs.
In April, the Bureau of Yards and Docks requested termination of the contract by June 30, 1943, and at the same time directed the station Public Works Department to take over new construction activities in addition to base maintenance. With more than 600 Seabees assigned to maintenance and 900 civilian employees to be replaced, the 30th Battalion was hard pressed to satisfy all demands for personnel. Accordingly, the 83rd Battalion was assigned to Trinidad, the first echelon arriving the latter part of May and the remainder during June. When the contractor terminated his activities on June 30, these two battalions carried on with the uncompleted portion of the work, which amounted to 25 per cent of the authorized program.
Upon the termination of the contract, the Navy purchased a hydraulic dredge, and dredging operations were continued under a new contract, awarded primarily for the purpose of indoctrinating Seabees in the operation of this type of dredge. After six months training the Seabee crew assumed complete supervision of this piece of equipment, and the contract was terminated in January 1944. Dredging operations were completed in the Trinidad area in June 1944, at which time the dredge was transferred to the Pacific area for further operations.
The original lease agreement did not include the upper reaches of Tucker Valley and the Maqueripe Bay area fronting the Caribbean on the north side of the peninsula. After U.S. entry into the war, control of this area became essential to the military security of the base. In the supplemental lease consummated in December 1942, whereby these areas were included in the 99-year lease, it was agreed that the United States would build and turn over to the local government a roadway along the northern shore of the peninsula to permit the general public to have access to the beach at Maracas Bay in lieu of facilities formerly available at Maqueripe.
Work on this 71/2-mile highway was started late in March 1943 by the contractor, continued by the Seabees upon termination of the contract in June, and completed and turned over to the local government in April 1944. Requiring the removal of 1,000,000 cubic yards from perilous mountainside heights, the road, as built through virgin jungle, was 24 feet wide, paved with asphalt macadam for a width of 14 feet, and nowhere exceeded a 10-percent grade, despite its climb from sea-level at Port of Spain to a 1,335-foot elevation within a distance of 2 miles.
ARMED FORCES RADIO WVDI
In May 1943 the The U.S. Armed Forces Radio Station WVDI commenced regular broadcasts to the service men at the Chaguramas base in Trinidad on a frequency of 570 kHz with a Low power of 250 watts constraint (Imposed by the Local Government).Broadcast hours between 10:00 Gmt and 12:30 Gmt and between 2000 Gmt and 0300Gmt. WVDI’s studio and transmitter was located United states Naval Station in Trinidad B.W.I. Member of Armed Forces Radio and Television services.
Although intended for the military personal situated at the U.S. Naval base in Chaguaramus, the 250 watt signal could also be heard faintly throughout the Island.
The transmission were not intended for general consumption in Trinidad.
However Trinidad public listened to them, as the local stations were very slow to pick up on the popular rock and roll that was dawning in America and gaining popuarity in Trinidad.
The station also provided a platform for local Calypso musicians whose performances were broadcast and proved to be very popular.
Holly Betaudier During the 1950s, he worked as an announcer at the American Naval Base in Chaguaramas and the WVDI Station. He was the host of "Holly's Happy Moments," a popular radio show that featured the best of local talent He utilised his position at the U.S. Armed Forces radio service network WVDI in the 1940s to promote calypso and parang music.
Boscoe Holder also had his own programme, Piano Ramblings, on the U.S. Armed Forces Radio Station, WVDI. The show aired every Sunday afternoon. His dance company also performed constantly at various Officers’ Clubs and U.S.O.’s, and Holder was commissioned by scores of servicemen to paint their portraits so that they could send them home to their loved ones in America.
On Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. you could her at least 4 episodes
of popular comic strip heroes: Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers if my memory serves me.
PANDEMONIACS Effect on Culture
The U.S. presence in Trinidad had a great influence on the culture of the people of Trinidad but likewise Trinidad culture had an influence on the Americans as well.
Admiral Daniel V Gallery and his Oil Drum Band
The Steelbands unusual US Ambassador.
This is the story of a farsighted American Admiral, who became by a quirk of history, unadmittedly the first true ambassador for the steelbands of Trinidad and Tobago to the United States of America in 1957.
While our own nationals were displaying such apathy towards pan and panmen, the Americans were getting into the act.
Admiral Daniel V. Gallery, commandant of the Tenth Naval District of which Trinidad is part, was a highly decorated naval officer, yet he is perhaps best known today as the founder of the first continuously running, non-Trinidadian American-based steel band. Gallery often lamented this legacy:
I never heard of the steel drum until I was in Trinidad at carnival time in 1957, when I heard hundreds of them in the fabulous carnival parade. The music just got inside me and shook me up. I bought a whole set of steel drums. . . .He fell in love with the music, and sent his whole Navy band to Trinidad for a week, with orders to buy a set of drums and come back knowing how to play them. Orders were orders, and they were well-trained musicians. The pans and other equipment were supplied by the Esso Steelband...
The US Navy Steel Band was the first all-American and only military steel band.
The first musicians of the U.S. Navy Steel Band were navy musicians stationed in San Juan who Gallery ordered to learn how to play the steel drums. Gallery regularly flew in famed Trinidadian steel bandsmen Ellie Mannette from 1957 to the early 1960s for instruction, steel band tuning, and maintenance.
The band was originally called Admiral Dan's “Pandemonaics” and this remained as a subname after they became the US Navy Steel Band stationed in Puerto Rico until 1973. The Pandamoniacs, as they were known, immediately took the island by storm, instilling enough confidence for Gallery to embark on a tour of the United States. In 1970 they moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. From there, stationed at the Naval Support Activity Base in the Algiers section of New Orleans, they increased their performance schedule. Between 1973 and 1979 alone the band traveled over a million and a half miles, and performed as many as 500 concerts a year. The U.S. Navy Steel Band cut several records and performed more than twenty thousand concerts worldwide, until it was disbanded in 1999.
Their first recording, in 1957, under the direction of Chief Musician Charles A. Roeper, on the Decca label, was an LP called "Pan-Demonia". Among their other recordings are an LP called Blowin' in the Wind that was co-issued by the Puerto Rico Council and the U. S. Navy League; it features numerous popular songs of the day and some traditional Puerto Rican songs (all instrumentals).
The Tenth Naval District Steelband (of the United States Navy) was, in addition to making a name for itself in the USA, also making top news in Trinidad and Tobago. One month before the poorly attended steelband preliminary at the Astor Cinema, according to the Trinidad Guardian, the US Navy Steelband was playing at the White House:
Steelband to make White House Debut: A Steelband, Trinidad's contribution to the music world will make its first appearance at the White House Washington, next month, when Admiral Gallery's Steelband of Marines stationed at the U.S. Naval Base, Puerto Rico, tour the U.S. next month.
For the steelbands; Pandemoniacs probably publicised the arrival of the genre in the USA, as much as their Trinidadian counterparts TASPO, had previously done in Europe in 1951. (Source:  Darryl Lou Hing, Angelo Bissessarsingh's Virtual Museum, April 5, 2018)

​f you're a national of Trinidad and Tobago or you were raised by parents who are from the twin-island Republic, there are some sayings that you may have heard countless times in your formative years.
Take a brief journey down memory lane with these idioms and there meanings.

• I make you, I will take you out.

Many of us grew up hearing this threat. It means I gave birth to you and I'm not afraid to end you.

• Stick break in yuh ears?

Usually said to a child/children who is being disobedient. 

• Friend does carry yuh, they doh bring you back

An admonition to children so they won't fall prey to peer pressure.

• Yuh bladder close to yuh eye?

Admittedly, I've only ever heard this in south Trinidad. In each instance, it was said to a child who was crying.

• Long rope for magga goat.

Too much freedom could have catastrophic consequences.

• Gopaul luck aint Seepaul luck

What works for someone else won't necessarily work for you. Everyone won't get the same opportunities or chances.

• Goat doh make sheep.

Usually said in reference to a child who is displaying characteristics reminiscent of one of his/her parents.

• Yuh monkey gland raise?

Usually said in reference to someone is acting up or behaving wildly.

• All skin teeth aint laugh.

Not all smiles are genuine; not everyone who appears friendly may have your best interests at heart.

• Who don't hear, will feel.

If you disobey now prepare to deal with the consequences later.

• Monkey know which tree to climb.

People know who they will get away with disrespecting.

• See me and come live with me is two different things.

You can never truly know a person until you've lived with them.
(Source: The Loop, March 23, 2023)

The very name Erin is most probably is a corruption of the name Herin which was the name given to the place by the Amerindians who settled this area some time around 500 A.D. Archaeologist Peter Harris suggests that they may have been of the Arawakan-speaking Shebaio people who originated from the Orinoco Delta. The original settlement apparently formed a ring some 1.2 km. In diameter, as pottery shards of the Erin-Barranco type have been found in Carapal and Los Charos to the northeast of the village as well as near the village center. These people cultivated cassava, maize and squashes, and also subsisted heavily on marine foods, as the numerous kitchen middens near Erin suggest. One of these is in the yard of the present-day police station, and can be seen along the roadway to the fishing depot. In 1941, archaeologist John Carter and his wife excavated a human skeleton just south of the station. This find can be seen in the National Museum in Port-of-Spain.
The heavy Amerindian presence at Erin m ade it an ideal location for the establishment of a mission to convert them to Christianity. This was done in 1760, when Capuchin monks from Aragon in Spain ( who had already established the mission of Siparia two years earlier) implemented a mission of their own ( comprising a chapel, presbytery and cemetery) at what is now Santa Isabella estate in Buenos Ayres village ( then known as El Pilar). The mission was dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi who is still the patron saint of the present day Erin R.C church. The influx of French settlers with the Cedula of Population in 1783, saw the arrival of Monsieur Lesade and his family and slaves. He established an estate near the original mission for the cultivation of cocoa , coffee and sugar cane . His dwelling house still exists on the Buenos Ayres- Cap-De-Ville road . The two pillars and steps at the entrance to the house date from the late 18th century, while the house itself was last renovated in the 1870’s.

​
Communication by Erin was best by sea. This is especially so when Governor Sir Ralph Woodford inaugurated an island steamer service, which called at Erin on a regular basis, to deliver goods and mail, and to collect the produce of the cocoa and coffee estates. In 1846, Erin was officially declared a parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Trinidad. Indeed, there has never been another church in the village which is almost 100% Catholic . Though a Ward (government) School was built here in the 1850’s it was very short-lived and it was not until 1902 that Erin was to get a permanent primary school in the form of Erin R.C School. During this time, the Amerindian population of Trinidad had become extinct. This however, did not prevent landings at Puerto Grande Beach. Separated from Erin bay by a headland, Puerto Grande beach must be accessed via the Erin/ Cap-De-Ville Main Road, which winds through some breathtaking scenery. This beach is isolated and rocky, and therefore not a bather’s beach. It was however, the point at which Warao ( known locally as the Warahoon) indigenous people of the Orinoco Delta, used to come ashore. There is however a reliable source who guarantees that several small bands would canoe to Puerto Grande as recently as 1965, in order to trade with villagers. Several older residents of the village all concur on the same story of the periodic landings, which took place at no fixed time. The story goes that they would land on the beach and draw the canoes out of the surf. Short, muscular men with beardless faces, flat foreheads, almond skin and dark eyes; shapely women with flowing hair and lithe children, all clad only in loincloths. These first people would then take up a wareshi ( a palm-frond bag which is slung from the forehead and dangles down the back) , filled with cassava, crafts and small animals which were sold as pets, and make the journey to Erin village in order to trade these items at the village shop ( which still stands in ruin near an old gas station) for dry goods and a few foodstuffs. What is remembered about them is that they spoke no English , Spanish or French Patois which were dominant languages at the time. Instead, they negotiated their purchases by means of sign language. It is also remembered that in the trek from the landing place to Erin village , they never followed the main road, but instead, guided by a sixth sense, would unerringly plunge into the bushes, and meticulously retrace the footsteps of their forefathers along a long obliterated trail. Thus, a peasant tilling a patch of cultivated plants behind his ajoupa , may have occasionally been rudely startled as a long column of naked Warao suddenly appear from the bushes to make their way in stolid silence across his backyard as they followed their ancestral highway. The last reported landing of the Warao, apparently took place in 1965. The informant, then a young man, claims that four canoes filled with people came ashore and followed for what was the last time, the ancestral trail to Erin.. It is without surprise that not a few of the locals in this area bear the strikingly sharp features and almond eyes which hint at indigenous genealogy.
In 1876, the Catholic church was moved from Buenos Ayres , to its present location on a hill near the village center. This also included a wooden presbytery which was only recently demolished . The statue of Our Lady of Erin also dates from the mid-19th century and was originally on a pedestal facing the roadway, but was moved to the front of the church by parishioner Mr. J. Anduze.
During this time, Erin was made a ward in the county of St. Patrick , complete with its own warden, Paul De Veurteuil Erin received its police station and RC. School near the close of the 19th century, and was given a new boost in commerce when the Trinidad Government Railway penetrated as far as Siparia , thirteen miles away. The discovery of oil in Palo Seco and Santa Flora during the 1920’s gave the villagers of Erin a chance to tap into a new source of income by “ wukkin in de oil” . Today, this is still a viable source of employment for villagers. The island steamer stopped its service in 1928 and this forced the villagers of Erin to make the trek to Siparia whenever they needed to sell their produce . The outbreak of WWII in 1939, saw the establishment of American Army and Navy bases in Trinidad at Wallerfield and Chaguaramas . Outposts were also established on the south coast at Los Iros, Cedros, Pt. Fortin and Palo Seco. The Yankee soldiers transformed the rum shops and beaches into wild party zones. Some of the older persons of Erin and environs still have unusually lightly colored skin, hair and eyes, hinting that some of these soldiers must have left more than just a memory with their local girlfriends.
During the 1950’s , American archaeologist Dr. John A. Bullbrook occupied the old Lesade house while he excavated the remains of Erin’s Shebaio settlement , and other sites at Los Iros and Cedros. The village itself depended heavily upon the oil industry and also upon fishing for its main sources of income. Pig farming began in Erin around thirty years ago, and today Erin Farms is one of the country’s largest meat processors. The fishing depot was constructed in 1974 to accommodate the boats, nets and engines of the fishermen. In the census of 1980, Erin was populated by 2,570 persons. Today, this has dwindled to just over 1,500. There is no doubt that the youth of the village are attracted to other districts that present facilities for their education and recreation. The old R.C church, and the R.C school were completely renovated in 2003, along with the dilapidated police station which had served for more than a century. While there is still a high level of unemployment in the village, Erin is still a fine example of rustic community that can serve as a model for the nation.

Kenrick Vincent Joseph Bruzual died last Saturday, 25th March, at the Scarborough Grace Hospital for a well-played 82.
In 2018, Ken Bruzual received the Toronto Caribbean Carnival’s Pioneer Award.
Lennox Borel, retired University of Toronto professor and long time colleague of Ken, said of him: “The development and evolution of the Caribbean Carnival Arts in Canada cannot be documented without the inclusion of the contributions of Ken Bruzual. Since arriving in Canada in the sixties, Ken has been involved in all things Caribbean.”  
On Bruzual’s passing Borel said, “I was saddened to learn of his passing.  Ken and I shared a long friendly relationship.  He was a student of mine at St. Mary’s College in Trinidad and Tobago and was a cadet in my platoon.  I followed his career as a member of the bugle corps in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.  We rekindled our friendship when we came to Canada.  He was very involved for many years in the Carnival Arts in Montreal and Toronto.  He acquitted himself very well as a Calypso judge.  He will indeed be missed.
Ken Bruzual was indeed the quintessential Caribbean icon. Requiescat in pace, my friend.”
Bruzual was born in San Juan, Trinidad, on October 6, 1940, and was raised there where he attended Nelson Street Boys R.C. School, then to St. Mary’s College.
After serving in the Trinidad police force, Bruzual came to Montreal, Canada, in 1964 to study electronics and engineering at Montreal’s Radio College, moving on Sir George Williams University (Concordia University). He quit one year before graduation after responding to the call of the Caribbean.
He played steelband, raised money for the Trinidad & Tobago Association in Montreal and used the funds to sponsor various Caribbean community events. Later in 1967 Bruzual brought a mas band to the first Caribana parade in Toronto. The band was made up of students from Sir George Williams University. He moved to Toronto permanently in 1969.
He has supported the Caribbean Festivals in artistic, cultural and economic ventures, assisting the earlier stakeholder groups – CDC, OMBA, and OMPA – that produced the Carnival Arts.
He was a co-founder of the Calypso Association, and later OCPA and, working in administrative roles he played a crucial part in fundraising from Government and Corporate sources.
Ken organized the Calypso Monarch contests over several years and served as a member of the Monarch Judging Panel for over a decade. He promoted the local production of several music genres.
For the last 20 years of his life he published the Internet Newsletter CULTURE CHEST, and has photographed and amassed a vast historical catalog of Caribbean Artistic and Cultural expressions and evolution in Ontario. He did so despite ailing for three decades due to an injury he sustained from a major vehicular accident. Bruzual was driven by his passion for his Caribbean culture.
Retired librarian Dr. Rita Cox, renowned storyteller and admired as a leader in the community, has been a friend and a colleague of Ken Bruzual for many decades, and says this about the late and true Caribbean Man: “Ken was so interested and connected to his community that he kept a log of all of the stalwarts who had passed away through the years. He hosted a memorial service every year to honour them. He was a remarkable man, a true son of the Caribbean. I shall miss him dearly.”
Ken Bruzual is survived by Judith Niles, his partner for 45 years, daughters Jennifer, Jeanine, Khalilah, and son Kareem.

She is the first person of colour to hold the position
Last month it was announced during a City TV Breakfast TV broadcast that Natasha Ramsahai had been promoted to Chief Meteorologist at CityNews Toronto. She is the first person of colour in all of Canada to earn this position.
She is an On-Air Meteorologist for 680 NEWS and Citynews. As a member of the CityNews weather team she is also seen on the popular Breakfast Television morning show.
“What’s big time notable is this promotion is breaking down barriers,” she posted on Instagram after the news was made official. “It is an honour to hopefully inspire young Canadians who look like me to aim high, never give up, be yourself and go after your dreams.”
Prior to joining City TV and AM 680 she worked at the CBC where she was not only the first meteorologist ever hired by the CBC, she was also the first female on-air meteorologist in the city of Toronto starting in 1999
Ramsahai was born and raised in Scarborough. Her parents are both from Trinidad & Tobago.
(Source:  Stephen Weir, the Caribbean Camera, April 2, 2023) 

Rice, a staple at mealtimes is very nutritious, but of course it can get a little blaze if wnd garlic, adding some chicken or vegetable stock and simmering until cooked.
Different types of rice will give you different tastes as well; parboiled rice is great in sturdy meat and rice cook-ue don’t work with our rice to turn out appetising and delicious dishes.


Delicious rice dishes can be done in just minutes, by simply sautéing a few aromatics, like peppers, onions aps as well as in fried rice. White rice makes great rice puddings and basmati rice makes wonderful flavoured rice dishes. Brown rice, which is the most nutritious type of rice, has a flavour all its own and a rather chewy texture, but once you’ve become used to these characteristics you’ll love it as well.
Rice is an easy do-ahead dish, and tastes as good the next day. What’s even better is cooked rice freezes well too, so go ahead and enjoy your rice in all different flavours.
Remember also that brown rice can be substituted into all of the following recipes, simply adjust the liquid to suit the rice you are cooking. The package directions are usually good guidelines for the liquid to rice ratio.
Split pea kitcheree
½ cup yellow split peas, washed and picked over
1 cup parboiled rice
2 tbs vegetable. oil
1 2-inch stick cinnamon
2 sticks clove
1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
½ tsp saffron powder, turmeric
2 ½ cups broth
salt to taste
Cook split peas in water for about 10 minutes, drain.
Heat oil in saucepan; add garlic, cinnamon, cloves, onion and ginger.
Add saffron and cook for a few minutes, add split peas and rice, stir and fry for a few minutes more.
Add broth, bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Fluff with a fork and serve.
Serves 4
Hot and spicy pigeon pea pilaf
1 cup pigeon peas
1 cup parboiled rice
1 cup coconut milk
1½ cups broth or water
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 hot pepper, seeded and chopped or to taste
1 pimento pepper, chopped
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbs chadon beni or cilantro
Preheat a saute pan or saucepan, add oil and heat, add onion, garlic, and peppers, saute until fragrant.
Season with salt and black pepper.
Add the pigeon peas and stir, add the rice and toss to combine, add coconut milk and water or broth, stir to combine.
Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes until rice is tender. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Fluff with a fork. Sprinkle with chadon beni
Serves 4 to 6
For a lighter side, omit coconut milk and add one half cup more broth.



Caribbean rice pilaf
1½ cups parboiled rice
1 clove garlic minced
2 tbs coconut oil
1 onion, finely chopped
½ cup chopped red bell pepper
½ cup raisins
2 large dried Chinese black mushrooms,
3 tbs chopped chives
Sauce:
2 ½ cups chicken stock
1 tbs rum, optional
2 tbs light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp Chinese chili sauce
½ tsp salt
2 tsp grated orange peel
Soak black mushrooms in 2 cups warm water for 2 hours.
Remove the stems from the mushrooms and slice.
In a small bowl combine sauce ingredients and stir well.
Melt oil in saucepan; add garlic, peppers, and onion sauté until fragrant.
Add rice and stir to coat.
Add raisins and sauce, cover and simmer until cooked 18 to 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in chives.
Serves 4 to 6



Spiced rice pilaf with chick peas and pine nuts
1 ½ cups basmati rice
3 tbs olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp paprika
1 14-oz tin chick peas, drained and rinsed
⅓ cup toasted pine nuts
3 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper
½ cup currants or raisins
Rinse basmati rice in lots of cool water until the water becomes clear, soak rice in more water for 20 minutes then place in a strainer and drain there for another 20 minutes.
Heat oil in a saucepan, add onions, and garlic, sauté until tender, about 4 minutes.
Add cinnamon, turmeric and paprika, stir, now add the chickpeas.
Add pine nuts and combine.
Add rice and sauté with spices so that all the rice grains are coated.
Add chicken stock, stir well.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add raisins or currants, bring to a boil and cover and simmer until rice grains are tender.
Fluff with a fork.
Serves 4 to 6
(Source: Wendy Rahamut, Newsday, March 18, 2023

Many Trinidadians know the elements of a good river lime with the river, of course, being central to that.
Trinidad and Tobago artist Che Lovelace’s latest exhibition, Che Lovelace: Bathers, takes an expository look at bodies of water and TT people’s interaction with it.
It will run from March 9-April 15 at the Nicola Vassell Gallery, Tenth Avenue, New York. Lovelace’s 14-piece exhibition carries titles such as Worshippers, showing figures dressed in Baptist-like clothing holding hands in a river. Another is called River Scene which shows bodies involved in different activities in the water.
Other pieces are titled after popular activities done by water and/or popular bodies of water such as Beach Dancers, Covigne Pool and Large Broadwalk Bathers. Many of them are done with acrylic and dry pigment.
A bio about Lovelace on the gallery’s website says he is “an unabashed painter of the flora, fauna, figures, landscapes and rituals of the Caribbean.”
“Lovelace likens his material and formal interventions–such as cleaving the canvas into quadrants and dissecting the picture plane into cubist constituents–to exploring Caribbean selfhood as an integration of antecedents and transforming simplicity into wonder.”


A press release about the exhibition said, “Meditating on famed depictions of bathers throughout the art historical canon, Lovelace was particularly fascinated by artists who were lesser known for the subject. One such, Edvard Munch, rendered bathers with energy and vitalism, a philosophy germinated from Aristotelian times that emphasised the vital forces of nature and good health. Framing this immemorial trope in the specificity of his own culture, Lovelace celebrates the bather as an intrinsic figure of the Trinidadian vernacular.”
On his Facebook page Lovelace said, “Very, very excited! My first full-scale New York gallery exhibition opens one week from now on Thursday 9th March at the Nicola Vassell Gallery in Chelsea.
“The exhibition brings together paintings, some of which I’ve been working on for several years, all focused around the body and water.
“Our relationship with water…the sea, rivers etc. here in the Caribbean is a complex one, and I have tried to translate through my own experiences what that relationship feels and looks like.”
The gallery described the exhibition as a “series of paintings chronicling the artist’s exploration of the body in and around water.”
It added, “With an expressionistic hand, Lovelace weaves stories of life, freedom, and post-colonialism in his native Trinidad, into a tapestry of abstracted landscapes, still lifes, and portraits.”
Lovelace began working with Jamaican-born gallerist Nicola Vassell in 2021. Vassell opened the gallery in 2021 but has worked in the art world for about two decades.
In 2021, his work was shown at the Independent Art Fair in New York and there Vassell became aware of his work. Vassell approached him about working together and, from there, the working relationship grew.
“It has grown to this point where we are now doing my first solo exhibition collaborating with the gallery. We did go to Miami Art Basel in December which went quite well and was a success. It was my first time at Art Basel as well. So I also went with her gallery to that art fair.”
Growing up in TT and the Caribbean, water is “ever present,” he said.
There is a whole culture around water and people’s interaction with it, Lovelace said.
Water paints a vivid picture of Lovelace’s own life.
“Over the last few years I have been working in the Chaguaramas area and I see a lot of people who come, specifically, to be close to water. I, myself grew up in Matura and I am also a surfer,” he said.
It was always something he wanted to address and had already done paintings showing people close to water, bathers or someone on a beach.
He thought he could expand on these and turn it into a full-themed set of paintings.
In its bio, the gallery says it “is a contemporary art gallery committed to discourse that widens the lens of the history and future of art. Its focus is on developing an inter-generational, cross-disciplinary program of international artists and thinkers.”
This speaks to and fits well with Lovelace’s view of himself as an artist.
“I am placed within the lens of art that is a little broader than the main centres. I am working in what would have been a traditionally peripheral space, a space in the Caribbean where we are still developing our own infrastructures around art.
“But we do have a lot of artists, a lot of creative people, we make a lot of things and we are a creative people. I see this as an opportunity to join with and collaborate with someone who is working in a centre, like New York, but who understands the value of what is being made and the discussions being had, the energy that is being put out outside of those centres but which contribute, generally, to the movement of where art is going.”
This exhibition is a proud moment for Lovelace and he sees it as a pathway to expanding the reach and practice of local and regional artists and their art. (Source: Newsday, March 8, 2023)