CARICOM criticised for lukewarm response to US strikes in Caribbean

 

CARICOM is being taken to task for its lukewarm response to situations in the region, including US military strikes against vessels in Caribbean waters.

 

Tensions have been escalating between the US and Latin American countries, which President Donald Trump has accused of sending drugs to the US.

 

In a release on Saturday, CARICOM reiterated its position that the Caribbean must remain a zone of peace. 

 

Independent defence analyst Dr. Sanjay Badri-Maharaj says, the regional body has historically not been persuasive in situations such as the one facing it. 

 

Pointing to the 1983 Urgent Fury operation by the United States, Dr. Badri-Maharaj said CARICOM's response was poor.

 

"...The OECS made a complete fool of CARICOM in the way it approached the issue of soliciting intervention. So CARICOM on security matters is not a particularly effective or particularly persuasive organisation. And countries are just going to do what they think is in their self interest for now," he argued.

 

He said Trinidad and Tobago has its own motivation to support the ongoing US military intervention in Caribbean waters. 

 

His comment comes as Trinidad and Tobago's government doubles down on its position that backs the US intervention. 

 

"Trinidad's number one self-interest is to get its licences for the Dragon gas deal... And also, and please do not underestimate the importance of this - it is very necessary to slow if not halt its flow of Venezuelans into Trinidad. And you know, Trinidad is not necessarily a zenophobic, brutal country by nature. But right now, the numbers coming in are a little beyond our ability to cope with," he acknowledged. 

 

Dr. Badri-Maharaj was speaking Sunday on Radio Jamaica's weekly news review programme, That's a Rap.