Piparo is a village in Central Trinidad on the southern edge of the Central Range. The village has three main claims to fame:
- Piparo was the base of operations of Dole Chadee (born Nankissoon Boodram), a notorious drug lord who was executed in 1999 for the murder of four members of the Baboolal family.
- Piparo was the home of Ras Shorty I (born Garfield Blackman) during his self-imposed break from the soca world. Living simply in this rural community Ras Shorty-I developed jamoo, a fusion of soca and gospel music.
- Piparo was the site of a large mud volcano eruption on February 22, 1997. The eruption covered an area of 2.5 km² and displaced 31 families. The mud volcano now lies active where the eruption took place (as of October 2019). [1]
During the early twentieth century, Piparo was an important cocoa bean producer.
The small village is mainly inhabited by people of African and Indian descent. There is a mandir, two mosques, and three churches.
Since the eruption in 1997, an alternative road to the village has been established through the village of Guaracara or a detour around the volcanic site through Panchoo trace.
10°20′N61°20′W / 10.333°N 61.333°W
Remnants of the damage, 11 yrs later
Piparo damage
Main vent at Piparo
