AFEISHA CABALLERO, the daughter of parliamentary clerk Lorraine Caballero, who was killed during the 1990 attempted coup, regrets not being able to ask Yasin Abu Bakr why he staged the insurrection.
Speaking with Newsday on Friday, Cabarello expressed condolences to the relatives of Abu Bakr, saying she had no feelings about his death.
“The only thing is,” she added, “I am heartbroken that I didn’t get to ask the question that I wanted to ask of him directly – why my mother was passed in the rush – and different things.”
Lorraine Caballero, 34, was one of two women shot and killed during the insurrection. Afeisha was two at the time.
Caballero said she visited the Mucurapo Masjid on several occasions hoping to speak with Abu Bakr, but each time she was told he was not there.
Bakr, a diabetic, died four days after his 80th birthday. After collapsing at his home at Long Circular Road, St James on Thursday night, he was taken to the St James Health Facility, where he was declared dead.
He was buried on Friday after funeral prayers at the Mucurapo mosque
Bakr, formerly Lennox Phillip, the leader of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, tried along with 114 of his followers to overthrow the NAR government on July 27, 1990. They attacked the Red House during a Parliament sitting, and bombed the nearby police headquarters in Port of Spain and stormed the state-owned TV station TTT. During the attack and the siege that followed, prime minister ANR Robinson was shot in the leg, and MP Leo des Vignes died after he too was shot. There were also casualties in the Red House and police headquarters.
In a sworn affidavit last year, Bakr finally apologised, saying: “For all the pain I caused the nation I am sorry. Now it is time for closure.”
Asked if there was any other aspect of Abu Bakr’s life that had affected her, Caballero said: “This last round with the vaccination and reopening of schools and certain points that he made, I agree with it as a human being. The (accusation of) segregation and discrimination, I agree with it.”
[caption id="attachment_920484" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Lorraine Caballero, right, spends some time with her son and nephews at the family's Champs Fleurs home. Caballero, a Parliamentary clerk, was shot and killed at the Red House on July 27 1990. Photo courtesy Afeisha Caballero - [/caption]
Wendell Eversley, one of the hostages held at the Red House, who spoke with TV6 on Friday night, said he had long forgiven Abu Bakr, but his death leaves many unanswered questions.
“When people heard of his death, especially those who lost loved ones, I’m sure they are hurting inside to know that Mr. Bakr has left us without telling his story.”
Former insurrectionist Jamaal Shabazz, national coach for both the men and women’s football team, in an interview with i95 on Friday morning, said he felt a sense of loss when he heard of Bakr’s death.
“The imam was a main factor in my development as a teenager and evolving
