CARICOM Speaks on U.S. Action in the Region; T&T Begs to Differ

• Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders issued a statement over the weekend, urging a peaceful resolution to the crisis in the Southern Caribbean. But as they united on the issue, one of its founding members made it clear it has a much different view of the situation. Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) expressed that it had adopted a much different attitude to the others in the 15-member – a point leaders ensured was recorded in their weekend statement on US military threats to Venezuela.
• “Heads of government CARICOM met and discussed various issues on the regional agenda, including the increased security build-up in the Caribbean and the potential impacts on member states. Save in respect of Trinidad and Tobago, which reserved its position, heads reaffirmed the principle of maintaining the Caribbean region as a zone of peace and the importance of dialogue and engagement towards the peaceful resolution of disputes and conflict. CARICOM remains willing to assist towards that objective,” the terse statement noted.
• The T&T administration has repeatedly stood behind the Trump administration in its ambitions on Venezuela, with Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar calling on US soldiers to “kill them all violently,” referring to alleged drug traffickers trying to move large shipments of cocaine north to her nation and also to the US. She says such activities over the years have led to a spike in violent crime with murders (averaging 600 annually), gangland violence and increases in felony crimes, including drive-by shootings.
• While this was happening, citizens in Trinidad were spooked by a weekend advisory from the U.S mission in Port of Spain asking the population to increase alertness “to be aware of their surroundings and to report any suspicious activity to local authorities.” Local authorities have since increased security presence around the mission, hinting that there might have been threats to the facility even as police work to confirm the identities of two Trinidadians killed in one of the boat strikes last week.
• Neighbouring Guyana is the other member state which has lined up behind the U.S., at a time when there have been border disputes between it and Venezuela.

(Source: Caribbean Life)