The mass firings of Commu­nity-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) and reforestation workers were seemingly planned to coincide with the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the hope that today’s visit would serve as a distraction to the attention that the “brutalising” of 19,000 workers would receive.

This was the view of People’s National Movement (PNM) MP Marvin Gonzales, who along with his colleague Faris Al-Rawi held a news conference at Balisier House, Port of Spain, yesterday to address the recent development of the pla­cing on the breadline of 4,608 forestry workers and contractors.

Saying that this firing spree did not happen overnight, Gonzales said: “And, therefore, the timing of this butchering that has ta­ken place at CEPEP and refor­es­tation programme, and the timing of the visit of this head of state could probably be intended to be a political distraction.