A politically explosive intercepted private phone conversation between prominent Trinidad and Tobago figure Star Sabga and her niece Genevieve Hadeed has been leaked to the public, igniting widespread debate across the Caribbean nation after its contents dominated social media conversations over the past 24 hours. The leak, which was first formally disclosed in a court affidavit filed last Friday by Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander as part of his defense for the preventive detention of Sabga, contains a series of vicious verbal attacks against sitting Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, with Sabga openly calling for her immediate removal from office.
In the hours following the leak’s spread across social platforms, the most inflammatory portions of the recording quickly drew public attention. Throughout the conversation, Sabga repeatedly lashes out at the Persad-Bissessar administration, claiming that government officials have unfairly targeted and falsely accused innocent citizens with no connections to criminal activity. When Hadeed interjected to reference comments from Attorney General John Jeremie — who recently switched parties from the long-standing People’s National Movement (PNM) to the ruling United National Congress (UNC) — claiming U.S. intelligence services would track down individuals engaged in criminal activity, Sabga dismissed the claim outright as a “damn lie.”
Sabga went on to make the extraordinary and unsubstantiated claim that former U.S. President Donald Trump personally disliked Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, refusing to take her calls specifically because of her race. She further alleged that the Prime Minister alienated new political opponents on a weekly basis, and was allowing her policy and decision-making to be completely controlled by Attorney General Jeremie. The conversation soon shifted to a recent controversy surrounding Jeremie’s comments about members of Trinidad and Tobago’s elite “one percent” who had their U.S. travel visas revoked. As Hadeed expressed concern that the country was moving toward a “nasty road” and noted that she and Sabga’s circle had been targeted because of their past support for the PNM, Sabga doubled down on her claim that innocent people were being unfairly targeted.
The recording captures Sabga launching even more scathing attacks, accusing Persad-Bissessar of destroying the country with false claims and making additional racist remarks directed at the Prime Minister. She singled out hardworking local business owners — who she noted employ large numbers of Black Trinidadians — and called for prominent community leaders to publicly and aggressively condemn the Prime Minister. Sabga warned repeatedly that Persad-Bissessar was leading the nation down a “deadly, deadly, dangerous route” and demanded that Jeremie be removed from his position immediately. She also raised unfounded security concerns about the construction of the new U.S. Embassy on the former Country Club site, claiming its proximity to the Chinese Embassy made it an inherently dangerous location.
Touching on the ongoing national state of emergency, Sabga claimed the measure was being extended solely to strip ordinary citizens of their fundamental civil rights, repeating her baseless claim that Trump disliked Persad-Bissessar because of her race while contradictorily asserting that the Prime Minister was under the control of U.S. government interests. Going further, Sabga described the democratically elected Persad-Bissessar government as one that Trinidad and Tobago “never should have” elected, openly calling for mass riots to force the Prime Minister out of office. When Hadeed noted that around 20 individuals had lost their U.S. visas, and that only her husband had publicly come forward as a “brave soul” (with Arab members of the group choosing to stay private), Sabga repeated her claims that the Prime Minister was putting the entire nation “in a state of danger.”
When Hadeed attempted to calm the conversation, labeling the ongoing political chaos “devil work” and predicting tensions would eventually cool, Sabga pushed back sharply. “This will never cool down, Genna. Something have to happen for this to cool down. And what have to happen for this to cool down is the death of one of a member of Parliament,” she is recorded saying. Later in the conversation, she doubled down on the extreme rhetoric, stating that political conflict would only end “if a bullet fly.” Sabga also added criticism of U.S. foreign policy globally, claiming that widespread anger at American military intervention around the world had pushed people to the point where they were ready to “blow up” U.S. interests, and repeated her criticism of Trump’s policy toward neighboring Venezuela.
The disclosure of the intercepted conversation through court documents has already reshaped the local political landscape, raising urgent questions about the use of government surveillance powers, the preventive detention of political opponents, and the growing polarization of Trinidad and Tobago’s political sphere ahead of any potential upcoming elections.