By-Staff Writer
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Oct 24, CMC -Ten former Caribbean Community (CARICOM)leaders have reiterated the need for the Caribbean to be maintained as a zone of peace, saying that they are impelled to urge a pull back from military build up to avoid “any dimunition of peace, stability and development within our regional space that has the potential to pull the region into conflicts which are not of our making”.
The leaders, including the former Jamaica prime ministers, P.J. Patterson and Bruce Golding, as well as former Guyana president Donald Ramotar, said in a joint statement that when Caribbean Leaders had gathered at Chaguaramas in 1972, with the then Trinidad and Tobago prime minister Dr. Eric Williams as the chairman, “it was accepted that peace was a dominant factor in shaping the social and political framework for Caribbean development.
“As a result, the ‘zone of peace’ has been codified and become a cornerstone in the architecture of our Caribbean sovereignty and the axis for our relationship with the countries of our Hemisphere, Europe, and the world at large.”
The other former leaders who have signed the statement are Baldwin Spencer of Antigua and Barbuda, Said Musa and Dean Barrow of Belize; Freundel Stuart of Barbados, Edison James of Dominica, and Tilman Thomas of Grenada.
Former Trinidad and Tobago prime minister, Dr. Keith Rowley, in a Facebook message supporting the statement, noted that on his 76th birthday, “ I find it necessary and dutiful to sign on to this historic statement of former heads of CARICOM.
“I am today embarrassed to accept that with our proud record of leadership and accomplishments, today, it is Trinidad and Tobago that recklessly subscribes to the dispensing with these principles in the expectation of plenty.
“It is a dangerous dereliction of duty, under any circumstances, to embrace the discarded colonial mantra that might is right and that the rule of law, local or international, is an inconvenience and a humbug,” Rowley wrote.
The Donald Trump administration has been building up a military presence off the coast of the South American country, allegedly as part of its fight against the illegal shipment of drugs to the United States. Washington has confirmed that it has bombed several vessels, killing all but two people, in recent times as it puts its policy into action.
Last weekend, the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat said that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders had met earlier this month to discuss several issues on the regional agenda, including the security build-up in parts of the Caribbean and its potential impact on member states.
It said that the position at that meeting was not endorsed by the government of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Kamla Persad-Bissessar led coalition government in Port of Spain, later issued a statement reiterating its position why it is standing apart from its CARICOM neighbours saying that the United Sates military operations are “aimed at combatting narco and human trafficking and other forms of transnational crime (and) are ultimately aimed at allowing the region to be a true “Zone of Peace” where all citizens can in reality, live and work in a safe environment”.
In their joint statement, the former regional leaders said the region has maintained that established international law and conventions, rather than war and military might, should prevail in finding solutions to seemingly intractable problems
“Throughout the years, our Caribbean nations have espoused and practiced the fundamental premise of the United Nations Charter that ‘all disputes can and must be resolved through negotiation and dialogue.”
They reiterated support for the current CARICOM leaders, who reaffirmed their stance on the region being a zone of peace, reiterating “unequivocal support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations in the Community” as well as “respect for a global order where international law prevails and conflicts or disputes are settled by diplomatic engagement and dialogue”.
They said that since independence, “Caribbean States have consistently refrained from permitting the hosting of military assets, which have the potential to lure the region into conflicts which are not of our own making” and urged “adherence to this exercise of our collective sovereignty to avoid endangering our citizens in any crossfire or suffering collateral damage and economic harm”.
They said that the safety and security of the Caribbean Sea and the “territorial integrity of our small states are of inestimable value.
“The Caribbean Sea is the most heavily used sea for international trade, cruise tourism, and yachting, vital for land-based tourism on which most States depend for their economic viability, important for deep-sea and artisanal fishing, and strategic for the movement of persons and goods among the islands, especially as costs and pollution from air travel increase.
“Once the domain of pirates, the centrality of the Caribbean has made it attractive to nefarious users like narco-traffickers, gun runners, and human smugglers. Small Caribbean States have limited resources to address the consequences of these illicit and subversive crimes.
“Accordingly, CARICOM governments, over the long sweep of time, have sought, and responded positively, to collaborative agreements to combat these nefarious activities but consistent with our sovereignty, international law, and intrinsic rights.”
The former regional leaders said that of immediate relevance and overarching significance is the Shiprider Agreement with the United States, which was concluded after intense and delicate negotiations.
They said that during 52 years of its existence, Caribbean leaders ”have never wavered in their total commitment to the Rule of Law and reliance on the provisions of the UN Charter which forbid “the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State.
“We and successive Heads have remained steadfast in our repudiation of external intervention to effect regime change. Regardless of the changes flowing from the swings of the electoral pendulum in our democracy, we have insisted that military action in our maritime waters should be governed by international law and not effectively deny due process.
“ We subscribed to the Ship Rider Agreement to ensure that illicit drug traffickers could be tracked, pursued, searched, and lawfully apprehended without extrajudicial killing and the destruction of that which could provide conclusive evidence of criminal operation.
“The safety and livelihood of the people of the region are imperiled by any act or utterance which threatens the norms of international law or undermines our sovereign territorial rights.”
The former leaders, in their six-page statement, said that ‘the gravity of present signals demands that we use all existing channels for dialogue to perpetuate a Zone of Peace on the edifice of respect for our sovereignty, international conventions, and the rule of law.
“We therefore fully support the preparedness of our Leaders of the Caribbean Community to assist in resolving all conflicts and disputes by constructive dialogue.
“We therefore fully support the preparedness of the Leaders of the Caribbean Community to “assist in the peaceful resolution of all conflicts and disputes” to maintain the rule of law and strengthen security within our region in the spirit of the friendly relations that exist between the Community and its Hemispheric neighbours.
“Preserving our Caribbean space as an established Zone of Peace is for us a vital imperative. Our shared history and common interests demand Oneness. We have gone too far to turn back now,” they added.
CMC/pr/ir/2025