With a steady rise in violent crime including an alarming increase in homicides, Trinidad and Tobago has overtaken Jamaica as the "murder capital of the Caribbean".

While homicides increased two percent in Jamaica in 2008, murders were up a staggering 38 percent in Trinidad and Tobago.

Although much of the violence is gang-related, in recent years tourists have increasingly become targets for robbery, sexual assault and murder.

In October 2008, a Swedish couple was chopped to death in their hotel room in Tobago.