CARICOM Deputy SG Defends the Workings of the Regional Integration Movement

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Deputy Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr. Armstrong Alexis, says he does not believe that the objectives of the regional integration movement are dead, but acknowledged that “we have to face the reality “ of the changing regional and global environment.

Deputy CARICOM Secretary General, Dr. Armstrong Alexis and the host of the CBR programme, Joseph Cox (CMC Photo)“As an integration movement, our role and our function cannot remain static and therefore there are compelling changes in the environment in which we operate that would  dictate that we too have to move with the times and review the things we do and the way we do them,” Alexis said, during the latest edition of  the Caribbean Business Review (CBR).

The CBR is hosted by Joseph Cox, the former Assistant Secretary-General Trade and Economic Integration at the CARICOM Secretariat and in its second edition over the last weekend, the discussions centered on whether CARICOM was meeting its objectives after 52 years in existence.

Alexis told the podcast that CARICOM would have to make the adjustments to move with the new environment “and review the things we do and the way we do them with the primary focus obviously on ensuring that the citizens of our region benefit from our efforts”.

The St. Lucian-born senior CARCOM official said when the regional integration movement was established 52 years ago, “there was a compelling argument for the integration of the region.

“It  started off from ensuring that there was sufficient opportunity for trade and it evolved into a deeper integration movement that involves a regional policy framework, common positions on international issues and of course ensuring that the regional space for  various reason, including economies of  scale would benefit small islands developing states that fork the crux of our membership”.

But he acknowledged that “things are changing and that the dynamics of the environment in which CARICOM operates “are changing and therefore we too have to evolve.

“Perhaps some of those comments about the relevance of  CARICOM  may be as a result  of the pace at which we are evolving (and)  are we truly keeping up with the times and if that is the basis for comments about our relevance then I prepared to say we have to take a look at what we do, how we do it and how quickly we respond to the needs of  the Community and whether or not there is some value in the criticisms that come our way from time to time”.

But Cox had argued that one cannot ignore the fact one of the fundamental principles of CARICOM has always maintained itself as a zone of peace and that “some of the political leaders clearly did not get that memo.

“So what you have now is public fragmentation. The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (Kamla Persad Bissessar) she has made her utterances and the Prime Minister of St.  Vincent and the Grenadines (Dr. Ralph Gonsalves) has slapped back harshly regarding the utterances about who is accepting the United States and their potential activities with Venezuela.”

Last month, Prime Minister Persad Bissessar said that Port of Spain has “not engaged and has no intention of engaging” the 15-member regional integration grouping CARICOM “on this matter” as it supported the decision of the United States to deploy “military assets” into the Caribbean region to destroy what it described as “the terrorist drug cartels”.

The government said that on this matter, each CARICOM member state “can speak for themselves” and that “Trinidad and Tobago has been helplessly drowning in blood and violence for the last 20 years”.

The United States ordered an amphibious squadron to the southern Caribbean as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to address threats from Latin American drug cartels.

A nuclear-powered attack submarine, additional P8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, several destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser are also being allocated to US Southern Command as part of the mission.

Cox said that once there is engagement in that respect, he is not sure “if you can blame anybody from really looking at those things and wondering whether to not it (CARICOM) has served its time”.

But Alexis said CARICOM is a group of sovereign states and unlike the European Union, for example, “we do not have a supernational entity.

“In the case of the European Union, member states have surrendered certain laws to a European parliament and therefore there are legal and political means of addressing some of the issues that the EU faces.

“It is not the same with CARICOM, we are a grouping of sovereign countries and from time to time for various reasons member states will have differing opinions…and sometimes differing policies on the …matters to be addressed.”

He said that from his experience being at the CARICOM Secretariat and even before joining the Guyana-based organisation “what appears to be a fractious relationship usually comes around with some level of understanding of what it means to be Caribbean, what the Caribbean space entails.

“Indeed, currently there are issues around how we respond to what is happening in our hemisphere ..particularly with the situation as it relates to the United States presence in the region.

“These are usually issues that cause member states and the heads of member states to rally around the fundamental principles of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas,”  that governs the regional integration movement.

Alexis said he would not want to suggest at this point that “what appears to be varying views by a few of our leaders is a sign of irrelevance.

“What it is a sign of a dynamic organisation that the members of that organisation coming from different perspectives and in the final analysis would be able to have a united position on issues, particularly the issues of foreign relations, issues of foreign policy.

“Sometimes we are different, but there are many times we are able to come together. Our position has been clear. The Caribbean region,  the Caribbean Sea is a zone of peace (and)  that has not changed…,” Alexis said.

But Cox insisted that when that type of conversation is played out in the public domain “I am not sure that anybody is going to buy the argument this is just simply a disagreement”.

He said that the Trinidad and Tobago prime minister is “very clear and she is not consulting with CARICOM on this at all…but the point is simply that a lot of these things are now occurring in the public domain just like how you could not ignore Allen Chastanet (Opposition leader in St. Lucia) about rethinking OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) involvement in CARICOM.

“These things are being done in the public space and what ir does if you ask me is that it is undermining confidence in the (CARICOM)  framework,”  the Jamaican technocrat noted.

But Alexis said “that is why we have to be very mindful of the nature of the arrangement called CARICOM, because again I will emphasize we are dealing with sovereign states, heads of which have a responsibility, first and foremost to the nationals of their countries and in that context to understand how it is that coming together we can build a united force for  the benefit of our citizens.

“There have been significant internal conversations around the current political environment of our region. We have had united positions being put forward before the government of the United States, we have actually put out statements, so it depends on what one wants to focus on”.

Alexis said that if the focus is  what an individual head of  state said as opposed to the common position articulated by CARICOM “I think we need to be mindful  that there is more than what meets the eye in terms of the conversations that are taking place and I want you and your audience to rest  assured that  the difficult conversations around ensuring that we maintain a common position on issues of relevance to the Caribbean continues to  guide the work of the integration movement of the region”.