US Outlines Priorities Ahead of Rubio’s Visit to the Caribbean

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - The United States has sought to reassure  its good relationship with the Caribbean, which it considers its third border, ahead of the visit on Wednesday of US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio to Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname.

In Jamaica, Rubio will also hold bilateral meetings with the leaders from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti.

“The United States, of course, we enjoy strong, enduring partnerships across the Caribbean.  When the Caribbean prospers, the United States prospers.  Our people-to-people ties are also vital,”  said U.S. Department of State spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, during an on-the-record call with journalists on Tuesday.

“ Millions of Americans trace their roots to the Caribbean, enriching our society in countless ways.  Likewise, hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens live in Caribbean nations, deepening those ties every day.

“We also, of course, collaborate closely on security, particularly to disrupt narcotics and firearms trafficking and combatting transnational organized crime through efforts like the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative,”  he said, adding that “together we will enhance shared economic prosperity and strengthen energy security as well.

“We will also address illegal immigration, seek to dismantle transnational criminal networks, and push back against malign influences that threaten the stability of our hemisphere.”

The US Special Envoy for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, said Washington is all too familiar with the opportunities and the challenges that the third border, the Caribbean, present and that the visit over the next few days “is symbolic of those opportunities.

“In the preview with a lot of these Caribbean leaders in regards to the Secretary’s trip, I think the focus that the Secretary wanted to hone in on is basically the big opportunity and the challenge, right, and focusing in on one opportunity and one challenge.  It’s a big opportunity, and again, it’s a big challenge.”

He said energy security has been the Achilles heel of the Caribbean for so long and its economic development with disproportionately high electricity and energy prices.

“Obviously, the fact that they are all dependent importers, and supply issues in that regards.  That’s also led to a long history of extortive practices from PetroCaribe, Venezuela that we’ve seen historically.

“All of that has ended and there is a time to turn the page, which is one of the focus on these trips, the historic opportunity for energy security in the Caribbean, which will improve people’s lives, will improve also the opportunities and the relationship with the United States and what that means, and obviously, will strengthen our neighbors, which we seek.”

He acknowledged also that the situation in Haiti is also presenting a “challenge”  and “obviously, we all know and we share the deep commitment to tackling this challenge in Haiti.

“The Secretary is obviously very familiar with the challenges posed there.  It’s an intricate part of the community that the Secretary comes from, and obviously something we’ve been dealing with for a long time; and look to work with our Caribbean neighbors in handling that particular challenge in this regards.”

Claver-Carone said the Rubio’s visit to the region “was very thematically put together to be able to address some of these challenges”.

“Jamaica is probably our most likeminded partner in the Caribbean, also a huge opportunity in regards to not only the commercial shipping lanes that all go through Jamaica, which is obviously key to our security and our maritime security and our commercial shipping lane security, but also as regards narcotics trafficking.

“So, obviously, in combatting these transnational criminal organizations is very key in Jamaica, and the partnership with Jamaica there has been extraordinary, but also arms trafficking and arms trafficking to Haiti, which is exacerbated, obviously – which is what feeds the gang violence in Haiti.

“So, Jamaica is a key partner from a security perspective in regards to dealing with counternarcotics, in regards to dealing with arms trafficking, and in deepening that coordination will help not only improve the security and safety of Americans but also in dealing with this shared challenge that we have in Haiti.”

He said from a commercial side as well, Jamaica being a key partner in maintaining those maritime routes that come from the Panama Canal but also in the upward flows that come through the region.

“We want to strengthen that.  Obviously, this has been a discussion with Jamaica for a long time.  The government, Prime Minister Holness, has been a great ally, has made great strides in dealing with the issues of crime in Jamaica.

“Obviously, the economic fiscal management of Jamaica has been one of the bright spots not only in the Caribbean but in the entire region in that regards, and helping them deal with that criminality, et cetera, is going to increase as well – the opportunities and the development of perhaps one of our greatest allies in the Caribbean there in Jamaica.”

Claver-Carone said that while in Jamaica, Rubio  is also going to meet and will also have bilaterals with Haiti “obviously to deal with this huge challenge that we all face in dealing with the gang violence”.

He said the discussions on Haiti are also to ensure that the Haitian National Police and the provisional government have the support they need in order to be able to tackle the violence of these gangs, which, at the end of the day, is important for the security not only of the United States but also of the entire Caribbean.

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley is also the current chair of the 15-member regional integration movement, CARICOM, and Claver-Carone said “this is where those kind of joint topics and issues of energy security in Haiti is a great opportunity to meet that, even though we’re deeply committed to the bilateral relationship with each of these Caribbean nations.

“There’s a dozen and it’s a lot of work, but we’re deeply committed to the bilateral relationship with each of these islands.  But we look forward to with the leadership of Barbados and CARICOM, working on some of these broader, cohesive issues.”

As it pertains to Trinidad and Tobago, which Claver-Carone said has been an energy leader in the region, it is going through its own development as it seeks to revitalize its natural gas opportunities and is going through that modernization as some of the older fields and opportunities there dry up and they’re looking for the new ones.

“There, along with a lot of the challenges posed with Venezuela, we’re deeply committed to working with Trinidad to figuring out how to re-energize that, those natural gas opportunities and ensure that its economy continues to move forward despite the challenges presented with Venezuela and otherwise”.

He said Rubio’s visit to Guyana, which is poised this year to become the largest per capita oil producer in the world, “the security of Guyana is a key priority for us in the same way that we have been working with countries in the Gulf states to ensure the security cooperation from the regional threats there.

“We want to work with Guyana in order to ensure the security cooperation there and its guarantees on its security.  We’ve seen the threats from Venezuela.  We’ve seen the approaches towards Exxon facilities.

“Obviously, that’s unacceptable and we want to work together to ensure binding – and find an agreement towards binding security cooperation,”  he said, adding “that’s a win-win for both Guyana and the United States, and I think that’s going to be a big part of the Secretary’s conversations while he’s there”.

Claver-Carone said the fact that these oil developments and perhaps, as has been described, as the greatest offshore opportunity in the world today, and with an administration that doesn’t punish countries for that development.

“We saw in the previous administration, in the Biden administration, that countries like Guyana were asked to almost halt their development and progress in favor of renewables.  No, we want to see Guyana succeed.  We want to see it develop.  We believe renewables are complementary in that regards and are not a substitute.

“So, we want to support Guyana in this development but protect it also from the threats being posed,”  he said.

The visit to Suriname is also   being regarded by Washington as a “huge opportunity in its energy development.

“Again, together with Guyana and Suriname, which – and obviously the history of Trinidad with natural gas – this is an opportunity that countries from the CARICOM community, from the region are going to be able to – be able to support each other, to be able to create an energy security framework, which has already changed the geopolitics of the region.

“If we think back to the first Trump Administration, we were dealing with the charges of PetroCaribe, with the challenges of the corruption, the endemic corruption that PetroCaribe and Venezuela were bringing to the islands of the region, the extortion that they were bringing to the region.”

Claver-Carone said the fact that now Guyana, Suriname  are able to have and really surpass Venezuela in its oil production and be able to work with its neighbors in the region “is a huge opportunity for the Caribbean, along with natural gas, microgrids, et cetera, to really, really finally try to put an end to that huge Achilles’ heel to its economic development and security.

“That’s the goal, that’s the priority.  And that’ll be where a lot of our conversations will be focused, and the Secretary’s conversation will be focused during this trip,”  he added.

Regarding the question of the Cuban health brigade system that regional countries have stoutly defended after Washington announced new measures to deal with what it claimed to  be “forced labor”, Claver-Carone said “’m sure that’s going to be on the agenda.

“Obviously, they’ll raise it holistically.  Look, we’ve been very clear: The United States stands firmly against human trafficking.  The Trump administration and President Trump has been a leader in the fight against human trafficking…,

“It’s not just the Caribbean.  Obviously, the Caribbean has really made this …an important issue, because they’re present in the Caribbean, it’s historic and it’s prolonged; but at the end of the day that have been trafficked throughout the world in violation of International Labour Organization accords of treatment, where they have their salaries and their passports hijacked by the Cuban government during their stay.”

Claver-Carone said that this is not an issue about, like, the quality of Cuban doctors.

“The quality of Cuban doctors and the work they’ve done in the Caribbean, in Haiti, et cetera, is great; it’s extraordinary.  And at the end of the day, we have to recognize that, and we want to recognize that.

“What we are asking is that they not support human trafficking, that they support – and I know that there’s been some efforts, particularly starting with Barbados, in order to directly pay these Cuban doctors so that they are – have a certain amount of freedom of movement and freedom of their professional practice, et cetera.

“I mean, we understand, obviously, how the Cuban regime works in maintaining control over these individuals.  But we want to basically have a united voice against indentured servitude, against human trafficking, in favor of International Labour Organization standards, global standards and international standards for the treatment of workers, regardless of what type they are.”

He said Washington is going to continue to take a strong stand against human trafficking across the spectrum, adding “in this regards, we feel that Cuban doctors and the trafficking of them falls within that category.

“And we look forward to working with mechanisms with our Caribbean neighbors to ensure that they’re able to hire directly the doctors, that they feel like doing so on their free will and with their free movement, and their freedom of practice and expression in that regards.  And that’s an important conversation that will be had and has begun and surely will be raised for the Secretary,” Claver-Carone said.

Caribbean leaders are also expected to raise travel restrictions related to the citizenship by investment program, (CBI)  through which foreign investors are granted citizenship of some Caribbean countries in return for making a substantial investment in the socio-economic development of these countries.

In addition, the recent announcement by Washington that it would be imposing tariffs on Chinese-linked vessels, has resulted in Caribbean governments warning about increased cost of living in their territories.

Claver-Carone said  that with regards to the CBI program, that’s been a longstanding concern  Washington has had and “obviously, in some of these islands in the Caribbean a lot of movement from not only Chinese nationals but Iranian nationals and other countries that affect not only the national security of the United States but, frankly, that affect the security of these islands.

“That’ll be also an issue for conversation.  We want to make sure – like, our goal here is not to impede the development of these islands.  Like, we want these islands to be able to have the opportunities.

“Again, when you talk about inflationary pressures, the biggest inflationary pressure in the Caribbean is energy, energy costs.  So that’s why we’re holistically focused on electricity, on energy costs, on energy security, in order to be able to spread it.  Because that then spills over into tourism, into tourism development, et cetera.

“So where we want to be is in a place where some of these islands don’t find these citizenship-by-investment programs which attract, unfortunately, nefarious actors from China, Iran, and other countries into the Americas, which then becomes a security challenge for all of us”.