ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nexus between crime, gangs and drugs and the role of Afro Trinidadians who are drawn into the drug trade for both financial or material gains and non-economic reasons. Trinidad and Tobago is the most southerly island of the Caribbean with a land mass of 5,128 square kilometers. Its proximity to the South American mainland, just about seven miles from Venezuela at its closest point, presents it as an ideal venue for cross-border criminal activities. The techniques used in drug smuggling to and from Trinidad and Tobago are multifold. The most common mode of transporting cocaine to Trinidad from South America for transshipment to Europe, Africa, Canada and the US are small fishing vessels known as pirogues. The root causes of the vulnerability factors which pit Afro-Trinidadian youth more at risk are embedded in a complex web of historical and social problems that have festered for decades.
