Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson, a former Trinidad and Tobago prime minister who was held hostage for days and shot during a bloody 1990 coup attempt, died today after a prolonged illness. He was 87.
National Security Minister Gary Griffith said Robinson had been hospitalised for several medical conditions related to diabetes. After prolonged ill health, he died today at dawn inside a private medical center in Trinidad's capital of Port-of-Spain.
Robinson led the twin-island Caribbean country as prime minister from 1986 to 1991 and served in the largely ceremonial role of president from 1997 to 2003. He was held hostage for six days in July 1990 with several Cabinet members and opposition legislators in a failed coup attempt by 114 rebels of Jamaat al Muslimeen, a local Islamic group that drew followers mainly among poor urban blacks in Trinidad's slums. Jamaat leader Yasin Abu Bakr blamed Robinson for widespread poverty that followed the collapse of world oil prices in 1983.
