A Zone of Peace – Caribbean Commitment

RIGHT DURING the first “Big Conversation” organised as part of the Caribbean’s premier cultural festival, CARIFESTA XV currently taking place in Barbados, there was a re-commitment at the very highest level of a fundamental principle that underpins the Caribbean civilisation.

That “Big Conversation” featured CARICOM Secretary General, Dr. Carla Bennett of Belize, the Prime Ministers of Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines, Hons.

Mia Mottley and Dr Ralph Gonsalves, and the distinguished Vice Chancellor of the UWI, Dr Hilary Beckles.

That principle is that the Caribbean should be, and remain, a zone of peace. It is a principle deeply rooted in our history and experiences of wars, not among Caribbean states, but by outsiders whose actions have badly scarred Caribbean society. The warmongers came primarily from Europe but their harmful actions in forcibly subjugating Caribbean peoples were continued by their offspring who settled in North America, ironically on account of wars between European colonisers. The product of these armed interventions by human the species were far more detrimental than that from other invasive species of which we are aware today. It has drowned the region in a flood of death, misery and suffering- first from the slave traders and colonial enslavers, the internecine wars among themselves as they fought for domination, and all the negative legacies from 500 plus years of colonial and neo-colonial occupation. It is best summed up in true Caribbean style by Singing Sandra’s immortal calypso, “Nobody wins a war”. We can add to that certainly, not the Caribbean people.

The painful legacy is exposed to the world when we parade on occasions of collective endeavour such as CARIFESTA – national delegations sporting flags of European identity, indicating the colonising powers and the fact that much of our region still lies in foreign hands. But there are even worse repercussions.

Colonial rivalries have left animosity still brewing between neighbouring Haiti and Dominican Republic, three external powers still divide the tiny Virgin Islands amongst themselves and there is the so-called “French” and “Dutch” Antilles, all representing forced external intervention.

But there is another nefarious spin-off from colonial rivalry which threatens to disturb our peace and impede our development.

We refer here to the ongoing dispute between Guyana and Venezuela over Guyana’s resource-rich western Essequibo province- a matter which is before the International Court of Justice for review. The entire northern part of South America was subjected to the rapacious plundering of British, French and Dutch marauders, preying on what was left of the Spanish empire. We are left with treaties contested by modern states, sometimes, as at the present, running the risk of armed conflict, in violation of our hallowed zone of peace proclamation. The Guyana/ Venezuela dispute has now been exacerbated by the discovery of massive deposits of oil and gas off the northern shores of South America and into the waters of the Caribbean Sea. These have already attracted the intervention of US multinationals on one hand, and concerns by Venezuela which has laid claims to sovereignty on the other. The geopolitical problems between Venezuela and the USA and the latter’s “bounty” on the Venezuelan President complicate the matter.

With US armed forces, in their thousands, having been sent to the region, the Caribbean is becoming an explosive tinderbox. If we are to avoid another US invasion of the Caribbean four decades after 1983, with catastrophic consequences, then it calls for a high level of diplomatic intervention. This demands unity on the part of CARICOM, a unity which, unfortunately, is being undermined by statements from Trinidad and Tobago, which ironically heads the security portfolio within CARICOM.

It calls for a high level of maturity to first engage the government of Trinidad and Tobago and avoid any false “pro-Trump” or “anti- Trump” postures. We cannot afford armed conflict in our region and must place the interests of the people of the Caribbean first.