Former Minister Winston Dookeran believes says T&T has not yet learned sufficiently from the events of July 27, 1990.
Dookeran was among those taken hostage in the Red House on that date.
He made the comments as Trinidad and Tobago commemorates the 33rd observance of the coup attempt by the Jamaat al Muslimeen on July 27, 1990, when they attempted to overthrow the NAR government.
The Muslimeen fire bombed TTPS headquarters on St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain. Forty-two of them stormed the Red House, taking Prime Minister ANR Robinson and most of his Cabinet hostage, as well as other people.
Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr led 72 other insurgents, taking hostages at TTT.
After a six-day siege in which 24 people were killed and many others injured, the Muslimeen surrendered.
The insurgents beat and shot Robinson. Dookeran, who was among hostages taken, was released July 28 and chaired the Cabinet as an amnesty agreement was brokered with the insurgents.
Speaking with News Power Now this morning Dookeran lamented the fact that the country is yet to learn from the events that unfolded 33 years ago.