Caribbean & Central America - May 2022

*** CARIBBEAN NATIONS SECURITY CONFERENCE 2022. The annual Caribbean Nations Security Conference, held in Barbados from 5-7 April, had as its theme “Multinational Cooperation in a Changing Operational Environment”, with a particular focus on counter-terrorism initiatives, counter-illicit flows operations, coordination for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and protecting the blue economy. In addition to the co-hosts US and Barbados, defence leaders from Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago participated.

In her opening address, General Laura Richardson, commander of US Southern Command (Southcom) emphasised in particular the threat posed to the region by transnational criminal organisations (TCOs). She called them “one of the most imminent threats” and said: “TCOs are poisoning the Caribbean and American people, trafficking in drugs, arms, humans, and other illicit products, and worsening corruption. Local gangs engage in violent crime, kidnapping, and sexual assault.” She added that these groups “are even involved in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, robbing the region of 20-30% of fish stocks and causing the Caribbean US$750m in loss each year”.

Richardson told the conference that “these cross-cutting threats are too powerful, too overwhelming for one nation to handle on its own”, and during the conference participants discussed increased cooperation to counter the TCO threat, including cooperation with the US’s Joint Interagency Task Force-South which conducts detection and monitoring operations in the region. Also discussed was the use of the Cooperative Situational Information Integration (CSII) system, an online system that allows the US and partner nations “to share air-, maritime- and land-domain awareness information”.

*** GUYANA AND TRINIDAD & TOBAGO AT ODDS. In comments made at the end of March, Guyana’s Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo infuriated Trinidad by saying that its economy was “falling apart”. When upbraided by Trinidad’s Prime Minister Keith Rowley, an unrepentant Jagdeo responded by saying: “The fact is Trinidad’s economy is reliant on one sector – oil and gas – [and] this has nothing to do with just Rowley. This is the fact of the economy of Trinidad and Tobago going for a long period only relying on one sector.” He said it was because of this example that Guyana was so determined to avoid the same pitfall.

The row was compounded by the fact that Guyana’s ruling People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is largely supported by voters of East Indian origin as is the main opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad. However, Jagdeo denied his comments were intended to favour the UNC. He said: “I’m dealing with straight language…There was no pitch for any opposition or government.” This didn’t satisfy Trinidad’s Foreign Minister Amery Browne, who described the comments as “arrogant, hostile, and xenophobic”. Browne also reminded Jagdeo that when, in March 2020, Guyana’s disputed election was threatening to lead to civil unrest, “it was our prime minister…who went there with the prime minister of Barbados and a Caricom delegation to help ensure that democracy and peace would prevail”.

For good measure, Browne added: “There are many economies within our region that are as dependent on tourism as ours has been on petrochemicals, but that has never been the basis for us to politically disparage each other as we each and all seek to expand our economic base.”

• Guyana’s Ali enjoys high approval ratings

According to a poll from the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (Nacta), Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali has an approval rating of 72%, up eight percentage points from late 2021.