“Texit” from Caricom?

The bonds of Caricom have always been based as much on sentimentality as on the cold calculus of interests that should guide the actions of nations in the international arena. Today the strength of those bonds are being tested today very overtly by Trinidad and Tobago, which was one of its founding members back in 1973. But perhaps this should not come as a surprise to us since the very model on which the founding fathers based their agglomerative aspirations – the European Union (EU) – has been unravelling in the last decade. Our exemplar Britain, for instance, chose to withdraw from the EU (Brexit) in January 2020 following a referendum in 2016.
While some have pointed out that the first instantiation of a united Caribbean – the British West Indian Federation of which British Guiana was not a part – was a British contraption to wash their hands of us and its breakup in 1962 was inevitable. CARIFTA – the Caribbean Free Trade Area – in 1968 however was an internally-driven economic agglomeration to benefit from a wider market. The rationale for the move from Carifta to Caricom is encapsulated in the name – Caribbean Community – which stressed the sentimentality of “community” instead of the broader and more utilitarian “European Economic Community” it imitated. The final moves to the Single Market and Economy (CSME) in 1989 and the Revised CSME of 2001 were never given expression and was officially put on “pause” after a decade.
Apart from the free trade benefits, the only other rationale for retaining Caricom was a coordination of diplomatic initiatives where their 15 votes in multilateral entities such as the UN, UNESCO, WTO etc. gave them noticeable heft. But unfortunately multilateralism has been waning and occasioned the questioning of international joint ventures.
A new pressure point was occasioned by the US reiterating a Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, which insisted on its primacy in the Caribbean. Specifically, it defined Venezuelan President Maduro as head of a narco-cartel that was conducting a war with the US by shipping drugs that killed thousands of its citizens. Trinidad took a hard-line stance of support for the US action to conduct a naval blockade of Venezuela and destroying narco-boats while seizing tankers transporting Venezuelan oil. PM Bissessar was criticised for her stance – which was operationalised by allowing a radar system be established by the US Navy in Tobago – by Caricom which insisted the US actions were disturbing the Caribbean as a “Zone of Peace”, a foundational aspiration of Caricom.
Last week, the US imposed broad visa restrictions on citizens of Antigua and Dominica to the US to which the Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) expressed “concern that this decision was taken without prior consultation”. This caused PM Bissessar to issue the following statement:
“Trinidad and Tobago’s government does not bind itself to the political ideologies or foreign, economic and security policies of any other CARICOM member government. Member governments are free to make decisions in the best interests of their citizens.
CARICOM is not a reliable partner at this time. The fact is that beneath the thin mask of unity, there are many widening fissures that if left unaddressed will lead to its implosion.
The organisation is deteriorating rapidly due to poor management, lax accountability, factional divisions, destabilising policies, private conflicts between regional leaders and political parties, and the inappropriate meddling in the domestic politics of member states. That’s the plain truth.
CARICOM cannot continue to operate in this dysfunctional and self-destructive manner as it is a grave disservice to the people of the Caribbean. The Caribbean community must face the rot within the organisation with transparency and honesty. Hiding behind the glibness of diplomacy, fake sophistication and false narratives is self-defeating.
An organisation that chooses to disparage our greatest ally the United States but lends support to the Maduro narco-government headed by a dictator who has imprisoned and killed thousands of civilians and opposition members,as well as threatened two CARICOM members, is one that has clearly lost its way.
There are repercussions for this stance. We must all live with the consequences of our actions.”
Is this a precursor to a “Texit” by T&T from Caricom?