Prime Minister urges responsible celebration as Carnival reaches climax

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has ex­tend­ed best wish­es to cit­i­zens and vis­i­tors as Trinidad and To­ba­go ap­proach­es the cli­max of Car­ni­val 2026, urg­ing the pub­lic to cel­e­brate re­spon­si­bly and pri­ori­tise safe­ty.

In her Car­ni­val mes­sage to the na­tion, Per­sad-Bisses­sar de­scribed Car­ni­val as “the most pow­er­ful ex­pres­sion of our na­tion­al iden­ti­ty, root­ed in cre­ativ­i­ty, com­mu­ni­ty, and cul­tur­al ex­cel­lence,” and said this year’s sea­son had been marked by strong par­tic­i­pa­tion, in­no­va­tion and or­gan­i­sa­tion.

She com­mend­ed the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion and the Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment for their lead­er­ship through­out the sea­son, say­ing their ef­forts strength­ened the Car­ni­val prod­uct, ex­pand­ed ac­cess and re­in­forced its cul­tur­al and eco­nom­ic val­ue.

The Prime Min­is­ter al­so high­light­ed ini­tia­tives such as Fla­va Vil­lage, which she said cre­at­ed in­clu­sive spaces show­cas­ing culi­nary tal­ent, ar­ti­sans, en­ter­tain­ers and small busi­ness­es while en­hanc­ing the over­all Car­ni­val ex­pe­ri­ence.

As the coun­try pre­pares for the Panora­ma Fi­nals, Di­manche Gras, J’ou­vert and the Pa­rade of Bands on Car­ni­val Mon­day and Tues­day, Per­sad-Bisses­sar not­ed that cel­e­bra­tions will take place not on­ly at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah but al­so in towns, vil­lages, bor­oughs and re­gion­al cor­po­ra­tions na­tion­wide.

“For Car­ni­val 2026, the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice has im­ple­ment­ed Op­er­a­tion Se­cure De VIBES, sup­port­ed by the rel­e­vant le­gal frame­work, to pro­mote pub­lic safe­ty, or­der, and re­spon­si­ble en­joy­ment,” she said.

She out­lined mea­sures in­clud­ing high-vis­i­bil­i­ty polic­ing, manda­to­ry reg­is­tra­tion of large bands and or­ches­tras, pro­hi­bi­tions on weapons, fire­works and glass bot­tles, en­force­ment of noise reg­u­la­tions, and ac­tion against lewd be­hav­iour or the im­per­son­ation of po­lice of­fi­cers.

She said par­tic­u­lar at­ten­tion is be­ing giv­en to child safe­ty, re­spon­si­ble al­co­hol use, li­censed trans­port for mas­quer­aders and sober dri­ving, in­clud­ing Safe Breath checks.

“These arrange­ments ap­ply to all ma­jor events, pa­rade routes, and com­mu­ni­ty cel­e­bra­tions na­tion­wide,” she said.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar urged cit­i­zens and vis­i­tors to com­ply with the di­rec­tions of the po­lice and re­spect the rules gov­ern­ing Car­ni­val ac­tiv­i­ties.

“Pub­lic safe­ty is a shared re­spon­si­bil­i­ty, and re­spon­si­ble con­duct by all is es­sen­tial to en­sur­ing that every­one can cel­e­brate freely and re­turn home safe­ly,” she said.

She added that the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice, to­geth­er with oth­er na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty agen­cies, will be ful­ly de­ployed na­tion­wide, with a vis­i­ble pres­ence at ma­jor events, com­mu­ni­ty fes­tiv­i­ties, pub­lic beach­es, rivers, res­i­den­tial com­mu­ni­ties and oth­er recre­ation­al spaces through­out the long week­end.

State agen­cies re­spon­si­ble for beach­es and riv­er-side recre­ation­al ar­eas have al­so been in­struct­ed to de­ploy in­creased life­guard and safe­ty per­son­nel in an­tic­i­pa­tion of large pub­lic gath­er­ings.

“Let Car­ni­val 2026 be re­mem­bered for its en­er­gy, in­clu­sive­ness, and re­spon­si­ble cel­e­bra­tion, filled with hap­py mo­ments, last­ing mem­o­ries, and the very best of our na­tion­al spir­it,” the Prime Min­is­ter said.