Of Bombs, Sovereignty and the right to Exist

Just as we began to accept that our new administration was about to settle into the challenges of realizing the programmes budgeted for, a bombshell has been dropped, literally.

We reported in our Midweek Edition that the United States Southern Command (USSC), had confirmed what fisherfolk here had been reporting, that a seagoing craft had been bombed at sea. Subsequent reports and eyewitness accounts claim to have seen an explosion in waters close to St Vincent and the Grenadines- more particularly, Canouan.

The report is as disturbing as it is shocking. The USSC report speaks of “narco-terrorists” having been the target of their fatal attack. But we in these parts, as indeed the United States of America, are subjected to international laws. We wish to make it clear that we do not condone the drugs business which is big money for some, and death and destitution for others, and which serves to unravel the social and moral fabric of our small nations in this region.

However, we hold firm that a suspect is supposed to be investigated, arrested and brought to trial. In this case however, the crew of the boat were declared guilty and executed summarily by their accusers. Their families would never get the chance to clear their names or give them a decent burial.

But since the US began to violate the peace of our region under the guise of a war on drugs last September, this is what we have been forced to accept- without challenge. Are our Caribbean nations now being dubbed centers of narco-terrorism? Is the US preparing to arbitrarily smear one of our prime ministers then pounce on him/her to take them off to a prison in the US?

Since when have we been known to be TERRORISTS? It is well known that some drugs pass through the Caribbean on the way to satisfy a drug-thirsty US market. But our Regional Security System has established agreements to work along with the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative- SOUTHCOM- to curb the drug trade through our region. So why is the US bombing fishing boats in Caribbean waters? Has the cooperation with our RSS broken down?

This has left a frustrated Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre lamenting the absence of a coordinated voice of protest among CARICOM leaders.

This issue of the bombing of a fishing craft has come as one of the most serious tests for the Dr. Godwin Friday administration. After several days of silence on the matter, both Dr. Friday on NBC Radio, and later the Deputy Prime Minister St Clair Leacock, who is also responsible for National Security stepped up to the plate.

In a joint Agency for Public Information and NBC Radio presentation, Major Leacock asked that a statement issued by the police the previous day be read again by the Commissioner of Police, then proceeded to give some context for the release which had sought to reassure fishers to continue their trade and to keep in contact when going out to sea.

Mention was made of cocaine having been found at sea by fisherfolk, and of one man being arrested and pleading guilty for having a quantity of cocaine in his possession.

If the US Southern Command had in fact detected any sea craft in waters in or close to our nation, isn’t there a protocol which must be followed according to international law. We still do have agreements between the Regional Security System and the United States of America on drug interdiction. Their being convinced of having detected a craft with drugs does not abrogate to them the right to carry out a summary execution at sea without giving the occupants the right to a trial and defense; that is the crux of our argument.

Is the US military no longer subject to international law?

We therefore, must also question whether the concept of sovereignty has disappeared altogether.

We see US dictates with respect to nations with whom it feels we should not associate. Our northern sister island of Cuba, is a prime example of this policy. Cuba, which for decades, has been a significant friend, not just to nations in the Caribbean, but also on the Continent of Africa, is being brutalised. And we in this region are asked to be complicit in its death by strangulation- at the risk of tariffs and whatever else the US President and his administration deem to be adequate punishment for non-compliance.

Is it not better that the US does the Christian thing and extend a hand in friendship to the people of Cuba? What macabre satisfaction can one gain, figuratively speaking, from pushing a dying man’s head under water?

The brief Obama Administration’s change in approach in 2016 had begun to make a major difference to the lives of ordinary citizens in Cuba. It demonstrated that peace and diplomatic relations is a far better approach.

Trump ramped up on the failure of Joe Biden who did not continue the Obama approach, having declared his opposition in his first term as president.

Cuba does not require more starvation. It needs oil to make life more bearable. And we in these vulnerable countries do not need bombs dropped in our waters, driving fear into our populations.

We only ask to be able to continue to govern our societies as sovereign nations, and to see the Caribbean remain a Zone of Peace.

We desire to continue as mutual friends with the United States of America with whom we have so many deep familial and other ties.

Our beleaguered leaders must certainly see the need for some urgency in a united response to this disregard for our States and its peoples!

This is not about ideology, but about respect for our sovereignty and the chance to live in peace and harmony with all our neighbours in the Americas-from Canada to Argentina. We are in nobody’s backyard. One would hope that something more than a vague statement will be issued by our leaders, at least at their next Heads of Government Meeting.