CARICOM Leaders Scheduled to Meet Ahead of the Arrival of the US Secretary of State in Jamaica Next Week

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Caribbean  Community (CARICOM) leaders are scheduled to meet on Friday ahead of  the arrival in Jamaica on Wednesday of the United States Secretary of  State, Marco Rubio,  well placed sources told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Thursday.

Barbados Prime Minister and CARICOM chair, Mia Mottley, flanked by Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali (right) and Bahamas Prime Minister Phillip Davis, during the last CARICOM summit in Barbados in February (CMC Photo)Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Stuart Young had earlier told reporters that he had  “spent quite a while on the telephone this morning”  with Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who is also the CARICOM chair “sharing ideas ahead of  a heads of  CARICOM meeting to  be convened tomorrow afternoon.

“I gave her the assurance that Trinidad and Tobago will  continue to be at the front of the batting lineup, standing firm at the  crease with  CARICOM,” Young said without giving any further details  about the meeting or Rubio’s  visit to the region.

But, according to the sources, the regional leaders on Friday, will among the agenda items, receive an update on the situation in Haiti, where criminal gangs are trying to overthrow the government and efforts are being made to hold fresh general and presidential elections in November this year.

In addition, there will be an update on the Guyana-Venezuela border dispute. Earlier this week, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, travelled to  Georgetown and Caracas for talks with Presidents Irfaan Ali and Nicolas Maduro  as tensions rise between the two countries over the disputed Essequibo region.

A government statement issued in Kingstown noted that Gonsalves, who serves as an interlocur, based on the Argyle Agreement signed between the two countries in December 2023, “cautioned that an escalation into open conflict could devastate both nations, economically and socially and destabilize the entire Latin America and Caribbean region, potentially leaving us with a humanitarian and refugee problem”.

The statement said he advised “both parties to resolve the matter so it does not lead to any conflict,”  recalling that after signing the Argyle Agreement in St.  Vincent and the Grenadines, the “leaders had then reiterated their commitment to Latin America and the Caribbean remaining a Zone of Peace”.

The regional leaders are also expected to discuss a concept for  a regional debt swap, as well as the impact of  the announced United States charges on Chinese built ships going to US ports.

Last week, it was announced that Rubio was expected to travel to the Caribbean region before the end of March for discussions on a number of issues affecting CARICOM relations with the North American country.

The disclosure came after US Special Envoy for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mauricio Claver-Carone, met in Washington with the representatives from Barbados, the Bahamas, Belize, Dominica,, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica. St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

The sources told CMC that Rubio will be in Jamaica on Wednesday and that the meeting will discuss Washington’s recent announcement regarding the Cuban health brigade system, to energy and economic development as well as Haiti’s security and stability. They said that not all regional leaders are expected in Kingston for  the talks.

CARICOM countries have defended the Cuban health program which they say have benefitted the region significantly even as Rubio announced recently that Washington would be expanding an existing Cuba-related visa restriction policy that targets forced labor linked to the Cuban labor export program.

“This expanded policy applies to current or former Cuban government officials, and other individuals, including foreign government officials, who are believed to be responsible for, or involved in, the Cuban labour export program, particularly Cuba’s overseas medical missions,” Rubio said then.

Some CARICOM leaders, notably, Prime Mottley, Gonsalves, Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda and senior  Grenada government ministers, have publicly indicated their willingness to give up their United States visa in favour of the Cuban health brigade program which they said has benefitted their countries tremendously.

Earlier this week, Bahamas Foreign Affairs Minister,  Fred Mitchell, said Nassau would  be meeting with officials from the United States next week to discuss its policy regarding Cuba’s medical missions.

He said while The Bahamas’ partnership with the US remains the same,” we responded yesterday formally, to the demarche. Sometime within the next week or so, we expect to invite them over into the foreign ministry.

”Our position is this, there are no violations of international norms in the country,” he added.