Josephine and Steve, here is what the Express newspaper had in this morning's edition:
"Small businesses support shutdown
Roxanne Stapleton
[email protected]
Wednesday, January 24th 2007
A number of smaller businesses are supporting a shutdown across the country tomorrow and Friday.
Several chambers of commerce have not taken a position on calls to shut down the country but some of their members are in support. The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce was clear yesterday that it did not support the shutdown. It said this type of action only served to hurt workers, consumers and businesses, without constructively engaging relevant authorities in implementing a more unified and effective approach to addressing crime.
The call for a shutdown was issued by businessman/activist Inshan Ishmael earlier this month and was called the "Take your Country Back" initiative.
Some members of the Greater Chaguanas, Greater Tunapuna and Couva/Pt Lisas chambers and others in San Juan and Barataria have indicated that they will close their doors on those days. President of the Greater Tunapuna Chamber, Rohan Roopnarine, said while his chamber was neutral, they did a survey to get a feel for what members were saying.
"The decision to shut down or not, is up to each individual member and 10 to 15 per cent have indicated they will shut down, most of them in retail," Roopnarine said.
The Couva/Pt Lisas Chamber will host an interfaith service tomorrow to promote the call for restoration of a more peaceful country. Some of its "smaller" members who operate along the Couva Main Road will also close for business on the days. President of the Manufacturers Association, Paul Quesnel said his association "remains neutral and we have not advocated any shutdown, since many of the members feel a shutdown is nonproductive".
The Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission yesterday said that there was no planned shutdown of the electricity service on Thursday and Friday."
The sense that I have is that there will be a number of smaller businesses, particularly in the central and eastern areas of Trinidad, that will close as a sign of protest against the crime situation in Tobago. If I had to venture an opinion based on what I heard yesterday, I don't believe that there will be a widespread shutdown of the country (unless popular opinion mobilises strongly in favour of it during the course of the day today). Union leaders have not yet taken a position on the call for the shutdown.
Josephine, you will of course have to make your own decision whether to come across to Trinidad on the 25th or 26th. For sure, if there is any kind of voluntary business closures, the impact will be far less in Tobago, since there is not the same intensity of feeling against crime in Tobago. I personally do not anticpate any significant disruptions in Trinidad (and will be going to work business as usual) on Thursday and/or Friday, and in any case, if your concern is personal safety and security while in Trinidad on those days, even widespread business closures should not really increase your risk at that time. If the taxi drivers support the closures and refuse to work, then there could be commuter disruption, but there has been no comment or statement of intent by taxi drivers thus far.
Bottom line as of this morning is that the situation is still fluid. I don't believe that there will be a disruption of essential services (water, electricity, communications), but there may be some degree of public inconvenience (some stores or businesses closed). If there situtation develops further during the day and I have the opportunity, I will post an update.
I personally think that in Tobago, it will be a non-event.
I am more than capable of off loading my own luggage if it came to that. However, landing planes, isn't one of my talents. 
