THE CEDROS DECLARATION 2005

During the course of time, life’s circumstances will demand that you make a stand for someone or something that you value dearly. Such a demand is being made of all the people of the Cedros Peninsula at this point in time. The choice is clear to the people of the Peninsula. We either stand up for our right to live in harmony with our god-given green, healthy and beautiful environment, or we sit by idly and foolishly allow the Government of the day to destroy our natural environs as they bargain our lives away to a foreign, entity all for the sake of money!

Guided by God’s wisdom, we must now either stand up bravely and make a stand for the land that has so freely given us clean air, pure water, nutritious food, and beautiful beaches and greenery to draw innumerable pleasures from, or we surrender sheepishly to the dictates of a Government which, so sad to say, has surely lost the plot and lost its way.

The circumstance is that Government of Trinidad and Tobago has invited the American Conglomerate, Alcoa, to construct and operate an Aluminium Smelter in Cap-de-ville Chatham. This will be a 60-40 joint venture relationship in favour of Alcoa. The proposed operation will require a huge chunk of the peninsula … some 2,000 acres of land and will displace 100 families from prime agricultural lands as well as fertile rain forests.

1. Since evidence the world over suggests that such plants are very dangerous to all forms of life, we, the residents of the Cedros Peninsula affirm as follows:


That life is sacred and beyond the powers of man to create or recreate, and being the Creator’s greatest gift to the Creation, it must be preserved and enhanced, to the greater glory of His Creation;

That humankind, the highest life form in the matrix of all species of life, is entrusted with the sacred duty to ensure that all forms of life are accorded the right to exist and flourish and to continue playing their divine role in this eternally mind-boggling Creation;

That there is a direct relationship between our attitude and practices to non-human life and human existence and that by nurturing and cherishing all non-human life forms we shall learn to nurture and cherish each other better, bringing greater wisdom to the moral, spiritual and political firmament upon which our society is founded.

That people – individuals and communities alike – notwithstanding creed, race, socio-economic standing, physical location, political representation or lack of it, are all equal in the eyes of the Creator and are constitutionally endowed with equality of rights in the law of this land.


2. Based upon these premises and in service to these ideals of life, we, the residents of the Cedros Peninsula in the south-western part of Trinidad, comprising the twelve (12) villages of Icacos, Los Gallos, Fullerton, Bonasse, Bois Bourg, Bamboo, Lime Field, Coromandel, Granville, Point Coco, Chatham and Cap-de-ville, owing to the deadly dangers which an Aluminium Smelter will inflict upon all life forms in the Peninsula and surroundings near and far, have come together under the umbrella of The Cedros Peninsula United, to sensitise the people of Trinidad and Tobago about the inherent dangers of Government’s and Alcoa’s proposed Aluminium Smelter to all life forms, and the underlying development strategy therein, which will in the long run undermine the national interest of all of Trinidad and Tobago.

It is our intention, using all democratic and peaceful measures allowed us, to stop the proposed project and engage our Government in an alternative development strategy that will redound to the benefit of the residents of the Cedros Peninsula in the first instance, and in the final analysis, all of the people in Trinidad and Tobago.


3. To these ends we affirm the following:

That given the experiences and testimonies of other countries in which Aluminium Smelters have been established, we have to conclude that such plants are lethal to all forms of life and will wreak havoc with our natural environment, forever destroying the agrarian and coastal aesthetics that have nurtured the human spirit of the Peninsula.

(ii) That notwithstanding the glitter, the shine and the politician’s big boast of “new technology!” the economic, political, social, psychological, and emotional relationships to which Alcoa’s Aluminium Smelter will subject the people of the Peninsula, will force us to relive a past which we had assumed was dead and buried by the struggles of our ancestors and many still living today, especially since we shall be made into a hopeless reservation in what was once our own community.

(iii) That such plants, if their inherent hazards are to be minimized, must be established in larger land masses, far away from human communities and in areas that are not environmentally sensitive.

(iv) That the South-western Peninsula is an environmentally sensitive area, being home to seven known (7) species of plant and animal life that are to be found nowhere else in Trinidad and Tobago, and we are sure there are more. These seven (7) species are (a) The Cedros Bee Orchid, Oncidium lanceanum; (b) A balisier by the name of Heliconia marginata, one of five species that occurs locally. (c) The silver hatchet fish, Gasteropelecus sternicla, which is found naturally only in the Chatham River and the adjacent Quarahoon River; (d) The Cedros Guabine, Erythrinus erythrinus, which is found only in an un-named stream that passes below the South Trunk Road just outside the village of Bonasse, at B1/71; (e) The slender toed frog Leptodactylus macrosternum; (f) The tree frog, Hyla minuscule; (g) The extremely rare reptile Thamnodynastes strigatus. (Prof. Kenny, Express)

(v) That the Southwest Peninsula, given its proximity to the Venezuelan mainland, is a natural stopover point for migratory birds, usually teeming with all these exotic life forms during the months of February to April.

(vi) That the Cedros Gulf, contaminated by waste from the LNG Plant and activities related to that plant, is fast dying. The pollution is killing a once prolific fishing business and destroying the livelihood of the small fisherman.

(vii) That owing to Government’s indifferent policy to agriculture, the cocoa and coffee industries have all but collapsed and the coconut industry is on the brink.

(viii) That given the fact that the Cedros Peninsula has not benefited any whatsoever from the annual one billion dollar harvest from the oil and gas production from the Soldado oil field just offshore Cedros, for the past fifty (50) years, it is highly illogical to assume that a one billion dollar Aluminium Smelter will bring any economic relief to our livelihood.

(ix) That a development strategy involving the construction of Aluminium Smelters in Trinidad and Tobago, which are enormous consumers of natural gas and which will make heavy demands on our electricity generating capacity, will represent gross mismanagement of our natural resources, thereby preventing the maximization of their true potential value.

(x) That given the fact that our people are naturally predisposed to fishing and farming; given the fact that Trinidad and Tobago has to initiate a national strategy that will allow the country to be self-sustaining in food; given the fact that a sound in-shore and inland aquaculture industry will be a natural compliment to our fishing industry if managed properly; given the fact that once agriculture and fisheries are put on a sound footing, then agro-processing industries and fish canneries will be a natural outgrowth; given the fact that the rich, natural biodiversity, and miles and miles of beautiful beaches, as well as our Soldado Bird Sanctuary and historic Columbus Bay readily lend themselves to a viable eco-tourism and beach resort industries, all of which will be in natural harmony with the land and its people, we declare in the strongest terms possible, that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago redirect its development policies to reflect the choices of the people rather than impose upon us an Aluminium Smelter which will redound to the benefit of the foreign entity and its home-based population, but hardly to the benefit of the people of Trinidad and Tobago, especially in the long run.

For these and other reasons, we the people of the Cedros Peninsula, reject in no uncertain terms the proposed construction of an Aluminium Smelter in the Chatham-Cap-de-ville area, and call upon the authorities to terminate that ill-advised initiative with immediate effect and to immediately commission a study to be headed by people who are already well versed in the natural characteristics of the area, with a view to declaring the Cedros Peninsula an Environmentally Sensitive Area.


Assented to by the people of Cedros at the old Cedros Jetty, on this day, the 20th June 2005.


1st Amendment

That if, notwithstanding our pleas for reason and conscience, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago were to go forward with the proposed Aluminium Smelter to execute its reckless genocide of life in the Cedos Peninsula; that if the alternative development strategy which we the People of the Cedros Peninsula would prefer our Government pursue so as to better sub-serve community and national interests were to be ignored; then the people of the Cedros Peninsula, an historically defined community comprising twelve (12) villages, drawing from the historical experiences of others, and in full compliance with the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago, The American Declaration of Independence, The United Nations International Covenant On Civil and Political Rights, and other such authorities which inclusively affirm:

That all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That all persons are equal in the eyes of the Creator and each and everyone has the inherent right to life and to never be arbitrarily deprived of this life by private or public concerns.
That the principles of social justice in a civilized society require that the operation of the economic system should result in the material resources of the community being so distributed as to sub-serve the common good.

That men and institutions remain free only when freedom is founded upon respect for moral and spiritual values and the rule of law.

That the right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law is inviolate;

Affirming our strong belief and commitment to the above principles which have been beacons of enlightenment for charting the course of human civilization; of the strong view that the Government of the day and Alcoa would be undermining these foundation principles which are morally entrenched in the conscience of human civilization; forever committed to our self-preservation and therefore ever-ready to invoke our natural, god-given right to associate or disassociate in the interest of our self-preservation, we the People of the Cedros Peninsula declare that should the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and Alcoa embark upon the construction of their genocidal Aluminium Smelter, we shall have no other recourse than to put into motion procedures for negotiating self-determination over our lives and natural resources, within the unitary framework of Trinidad and Tobago, in the first instance.

2nd Amendment

That given the historical and ongoing economic, social, cultural and inimitable diplomatic relations between the Venezuelan people in the neighbouring towns of Capure, Pedernales, Tucupita and La Guira and the people of the Peninsula, especially between our fishing communities; that given the fertilizing and sustaining power which the Orinoco Flow has over marine life in the Gulf and our fishermen’s heavy dependence upon this Orinoco Flow for their livelihood; given the incredible influence which this Flow has upon the flora and fauna in the Peninsula, that the people of the Peninsula do whatever is necessary to broaden, deepen and edify our historically conditioned pueblo à pueblo relationships.

3rd Amendment

That given the historical syndrome of taxation without representation which the people of the Peninsula have been suffering over the years; given the historical and ongoing exploitation and appropriation of our natural resources by the national state, forever unmindful of the needs of our twelve (12) communities, that the Cedros Development Corporation, in keeping with the spirit of our 1st Amendment, formulate recommendations for immediate redress.


4th Amendment

That in keeping with our vision for the long term development of the Peninsula, and in keeping with the recommendations of Trinidad and Tobago’s National Physical Development Plan, the Cedros Development Corporation is hereby mandated to put on stream measures for declaring the Peninsula an Eco-Tourist and Nature Park.

Assented to at the Cedros Anglican School on Thursday 8th July, 2005