Caribbean & Central America - September 2021
CARIBBEAN POINTERS
*** GUYANA’S DIVISIONS LAID BARE. On 1 August, African Emancipation Day, Guyana’s former president David Granger (2015-2020), leader of the African-Guyanese supported People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), said that race relations was still the country’s biggest problem. Parliamentary opposition leader Joseph Harmon went further, accusing President Irfaan Ali and the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) of exacerbating the country’s racial divide. The PPP gains most of its support from Guyanese of East Indian descent.
Granger, who still doesn’t accept the legitimacy of the March 2020 general election, said: “Guyana’s biggest problem is the problem of social cohesion…The biggest problem we have is the ethnic problem and unless we solve that problem by fortifying the foundation of mutual respect, we’re not going to move forward fast enough to develop this country.” Harmon added: “Today we live under an installed regime that promotes and assures life-long insecurity for the majority of our people. Their open oppression goes beyond discrimination, racism, injustices, and economic marginalisation. It is oppression with authoritarian attributes that threatens our liberties and our democratic society.” The opposition has accused the government of discrimination against African Guyanese in the distribution of relief for Covid-19 and the recent floods. The government has proposed a One Guyana Commission to look at the issue of social cohesion, but the proposal is hampered by the opposition’s refusal to recognise the legitimacy of the PPP’s 2020 election victory.
*** CARICOM CALLS FOR END TO CUBA EMBARGO. On 26 July, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries wrote a collective open letter to US President Joe Biden urging an end to the economic embargo of Cuba. Caricom chairman Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, wrote that the embargo “has run its course”. He said: “Caricom sincerely believes that it should be lifted so that all the rights to which the Cuban state and its people are entitled can be respected and upheld. Under a previous US administration of which you were a part, significant strides were made in this direction, and could be advanced to beneficial effect.” Browne said that Caricom was troubled by the shortages of food, medicines, and other basic goods in Cuba “that results, significantly, from the long-standing US trade embargo and the more recent punitive measures imposed by the previous US administrations”.
*** ST KITTS AND NEVIS GETS TOP RANKING ON PASSPORTS. The 2021 Henley & Partners Passport Index ranks St Kitts and Nevis (SKN) as the best Caribbean passport to hold. In the global ranking, SKN ranks 24th out of 199 countries, with visa-free travel to 157 countries. The ranking is a boost for SKN’s Citizenship By Investment (CBI) scheme. Those with similar schemes in the Caribbean were ranked as follows: Antigua and Barbuda, 29; St Lucia, 31; Grenada, 33; and Dominica, 34.
*** BARBADOS TO BECOME REPUBLIC ON 30 NOVEMBER. On 26 July, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that Barbados will become a republic on 30 November. She said: “On November 30 this year, our great nation which we love shall become a parliamentary republic. The Cabinet has accepted the recommendations of the Forde Commission, with minor modification, [and] our parliamentary republic shall have a non-executive president. [The president] shall be elected by the Electoral College of both houses of Parliament, and that president shall be entitled to serve initially for a period of four years, and thereafter can be reappointed for another term.” Consultations on a new constitution will begin on 1 December.