Calypsonian Peter Miguel who recorded a political calypso in support of Clifton De Coteau, the United National Congress (UNC) candidate for Moruga/Tableland, has been shot dead.
The body of Miguel, 66, of La Lune Road, was found by police around 9.15 pm Sunday at Edward Trace, Basse Terre.
Police officers were on patrol when they found the body, clad in a blue three-quarter pants, white T-shirt and sandals, lying on the roadside with a wound to the side of his face.
A District Medical Officer visited the scene and relatives were brought in to identify the body before it was removed to the San Fernando mortuary. An autopsy was expected to be done yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre, St James.
After voting around 6 am yesterday, De Coteau, who wrote the calypso for Miguel, said he was going to visit the grieving family.
Miguel’s brother, Lawrence, said the murder appeared to be a set-up. He said Miguel, a Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) contractor was picked up by a woman in the black car at around 7.30 pm and was later seen liming with the woman in Edward Trace.
“They called him from the house and we found him dead up there, so it had to be a set-up. I don’t know if he was involved with any woman because I never looked into that part of it but they said the woman who picked him up here and took him wherever,” Lawrence said.
Although Miguel spent many years in prison and had been the Carrera Prison’s convict calypso champ at one time, Lawrence said he was never involved in drugs, cocaine or violence.
“Listen, he is the most loved human being in the whole of T&T. If you go any part of Trinidad and you ask for Peter Miguel, he played sticks and he got involved in everything. They call him Muchacho. He used to beat drums in any part of Trinidad. He was good fun, he drank, he limed and he was a fun-loving individual,” he added.
Police are yet to determine a motive for the murder and said there was no evidence to suggest it was politically motivated.