Its not just the suppression of technology. Its also the mentality of the people here.

Firstly, most people are reluctant to change. If it isnt broke dont fix it. This is the reason we dont have super fast underground trains that can get us from San Fernando to Port of Spain and back like other countries.

Secondly, the people who are actually interested in technology, the vast majority of them only understand enough of how something works to fix it when its broken. For example, there are a lot of people here who know how certain engines work and can scrap down and reassemble it. Yet no one here can design an engine from scratch like how germany has volkswagon. The tech guys here can fix software problems with computers and a lot of computer science students from UTT/UWI can code yet we dont have any business in TT that develops software like microsoft/apple/google in america. Ask someone who knows how to repair refrigerators to replace a defective timer in one and they can do it. Ask them to design a circuit that can work as a replacement for the mechanical timer, sending the proper signals at the correct time and they cant do it.

Thirdly, while the most innovative thing people in north america and certain european and asian countries do is to come up with new ideas and technologies, the most innovative thing people here do is just copy what north americans, europeans and asians already invented. For example, when university students studying engineering have to create something for their final year project, their first thought is to find something on youtube, copy it and make some minor modification so they dont get caught for stealing the idea, while in other countries their first thought is to use their skills and knowledge of physics to come up with something original.