Cul­ture Min­is­ter Michelle Ben­jamin said gov­ern­ment not stop­ping fetes but it is work­ing with the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion and the Trinidad and To­ba­go Pro­mot­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion to find al­ter­na­tive venues and cre­ate a more bal­anced, in­clu­sive Car­ni­val for 2026.

“We are not say­ing that we are stop­ping fetes. What we are do­ing is work­ing to iden­ti­fy and pro­mote more ap­pro­pri­ate spaces that can en­hance the ex­pe­ri­ence while re­duc­ing any neg­a­tive im­pact that could pos­si­bly arise.”

Ben­jamin said the Gov­ern­ment’s de­ci­sion to stop fetes at the Bri­an Lara Crick­et Acad­e­my (BLCA) is not about re­strict­ing Car­ni­val but about cre­at­ing bal­ance.