Despite high crime and band members’ fears for their safety, steelband Witco Desperadoes says the community of Laventille will always be home. Band Manager Finbar Fletcher said this yesterday, as the steelband presented its performance piece for 2015, Pan Hooray, written by arranger Robert Greenidge and Austin (Super Blue) Lyons. The band also celebrated the 50th anniversary of its partnership with tobacco company Witco.
The steelband was in the news recently when Atiba Pantin of Diego Martin, who was helping move pan racks, was shot and killed by gunmen during gang warfare at Rudolph Link Road in Laventille. Since the murder, supporters and members have been cautious, with diminished numbers visiting the steelband, despite its temporary relocation to Queen’s Park East, opposite the Savannah.
Fletcher acknowledged that members and supporters were afraid to go to Laventille to support the band. However, he said, the band’s management had tried to make the environment as safe as possible. He said while the crime in the community was affecting the steelband, the band would not die. “We are trying to fight against it but, yes, it is affecting us. We have been around for 75 years and we will still be around to fight it in the years to come.”
For the past five years, the band has relocated to Belmont during the Carnival season, to give fans, wary of visiting their pan theatre in Laventille, an opportunity to watch them practice. “We’d prefer to stay in Laventille but apart from crime, an equally compelling reason to move down is because of the space,” Fletcher said.
“The space is not adequate for us. You would have seen in the newspaper tenders for the reconstruction of the panyard. We are trying to address the problem of the space, we can’t fit in the yard anymore. “So even if there was no crime, we might still be down here.” Referring to the murder, Fletcher said, “The band was not targetted in that incident but we will still have a police presence at the pan yard.”
He added that the band was working with the Police Service to monitor practise sessions and give the public peace of mind.