For three years, a local unemployment advocacy group in Trinidad and Tobago has waited for a promised opportunity to secure community reforestation jobs tied to a major energy project. On Wednesday, that frustration boiled over into public demonstration, as roughly 20 members of the Rio Claro Unemployment Association marched through the streets of San Fernando to demand long-overdue answers from the National Gas Company (NGC) and the country’s Minister of Agriculture, Ravi Ratiram.
The protest, held along Circular Road, saw demonstrators chanting two clear, urgent demands: “Create employment, right now!” and “Plant back the forest, right now!” The proposed work stems from the Cascadura exploration project along Trinidad’s east coast, where NGC cleared large swathes of vegetation for energy exploration. Under the company’s own “No Net Loss” environmental policy, NGC is required to replenish all cleared vegetation through reforestation work. The association, a registered non-profit organization, says it has been vying for this community-focused job contract since 2022, and received formal indication from NGC back in April 2025 that its proposal was under active consideration.
A copy of that 2025 correspondence, shared with local outlet *Trinidad Express*, explicitly states that “NGC will consider the Rio Claro Unemployment Association’s role in fulfilling our respective mandates including the potential for employment opportunities in the community.” But three years after that initial indication of interest, group leadership says members have only been met with delays and bureaucratic runaround.
Group president Louis Castillo told reporters that NGC representatives have repeatedly told the association the project is still waiting for final approval from relevant government bodies, despite public announcements that Cabinet has already signed off on a national reforestation programme that would include this project. Castillo added that the group has sent multiple formal letters to both Ratiram and NGC leadership, but has been met with silence. Ratiram has reportedly claimed he never received the group’s correspondence, even though Castillo confirms the letters were delivered directly to the minister’s office, as well as to the NGC president and the company’s designated liaison for the project.
“ It is the same back and forth. They are playing politics with our livelihoods,” Castillo said. “I am not giving up until the people of Rio Claro get to plant back the forests. This is not the same as the generic national reforestation programme — this is a specific commitment tied to the environmental damage done in our region.”
Fewer members joined the protest than the group expected, Castillo noted, as many participants fear professional or political retaliation for speaking out. Amid unstated claims that the protest is a politically motivated effort aligned with the opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), Castillo pushed back firmly on those assertions. He acknowledged that he ran for a city councillor seat as a PNM candidate back in 2010, but stressed that his work with the unemployment association is entirely independent of any political party.
“That is my constitutional right to support a party, but right now I am the head of an NPO, not acting as a party representative,” he explained. “All of our correspondence has been submitted in my capacity as leader of this group, not as a PNM member. I even paid $3,000 out of my own pocket to cover transportation costs to bring protesters here today — the PNM had no involvement and did not fund this effort at all. Why is my past political affiliation being made an issue when all we are asking for is jobs for unemployed people in our community?”
Media outlets have attempted to get comment from NGC and Minister Ratiram on multiple occasions. When the association first raised concerns, NGC declined to comment on the record, and follow-up requests for response issued during Wednesday’s protest have not been answered. *Express* reporters have also repeatedly reached out to Ratiram’s office to confirm the status of the reforestation programme and request a response to the association’s claims, but have received no reply as of press time.