By Kenton X. Chance
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, Oct 23, CMC – The leaders of three Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) say they will support Grenada regardless of the decision it makes in responding to the request by the United States to temporarily install a radar at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA) and the deployment of US military assets on or near the island.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, flanked by his counterparts from Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, and Phillip J Pierre of St. Lucia, spoke on the issue at a news conference here.
Earlier this week, Grenada’s Prime Minister, Dickon Mitchell, said he welcomed the ongoing “raging” public debate regarding the US request, saying that his administration has not yet taken a decision on the matter and that he would be making a statement to the nation in due course.
“Nothing much has changed since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that we were considering the request. We are still doing so. It is a technical matter and requires a lot of technical people to provide us with guidance on what it is we are being asked to accommodate,” Mitchell said during his “DM with the PM” programme on social media and other platforms on Tuesday night.
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.
But at the news conference, the three OECS leaders were asked about the advice they would give or had given to their Grenadian counterpart on the US request.
Skerrit and Pierre their position is similar to that of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines leader.
“A matter of this great sensitivity, I wouldn’t want to say what advice we gave to Dickon or what issues we discussed,” Gonsalves said, adding “but I could tell you what I said then, and what I could say publicly is that whatever decision he makes, I will support him, because he’ll have a rational basis on which to make whatever decision he make”.
Gonsalves said that the matter is complicated and that if Prime Minister Mitchell says no, the United States would find somewhere else to put the radar system.
“They can put it on a platform in the sea. They have satellites. The argument, as I understand it, that’s the best place to put it,” he said, telling reporters that Washington has not requested that the radar be placed in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
He said his view is that the United States wants to put the radar system near Venezuela to put pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.
“But if I could figure that out, you don’t think Maduro could figure that out too?” said Gonsalves, who is a strong ally of the Maduro government.
“So, the effect of the pressure would be lost. That is the intention,” Gonsalves said, noting the reality of the Grenada location and economic situations.
He said 20 per cent of Grenada’s gross domestic product (GDP) is related to one medical school, and most of the people come from America.
“The airlines that bring passengers come mainly from the United States of America. There are all kinds of pressures which could be brought, and then on the other side, there are principles of non-intervention, non-interference; this is the zone of peace.”
Gonsalves said it was not nuclear physics that any prime minister confronted with a request from the United States “will balance and consider all various factors.
“I can’t tell Dickson what to say, I can’t tell the Grenadian people what to say, but whatever decision they take, I will support them, because it would be a decision which is difficult, problematic, and it’s a judgment, and they would look where do they see at this particular point in time the interest of Grenada.”
Gonsalves said certain people may give advice one way or the other, “but at the end of the day, it’s Dickon, having listened to the advice of his people, listened to his cabinet, considering all matters, that he will make his determination.
“And so, I will not adopt a posture other than to support my brother in whatever he decides to do. But I wouldn’t say to you what advice I will give him if he asks me, and that is the way I will put the issue. I will be in this corner.”
Gonsalves said he is aware that Antigua and Barbuda had indicated that it would not permit the radar system to be installed there.
“Antigua, as I understand it, they asked Antigua, and I support Antigua in saying no. I support my colleagues in a decision that they take, which they themselves assess the national interest of their own country at that particular point in time,” Gonsalves said.
“It’s as simple as that. You see, people look at things in a very abstract way. This is a concrete question, and that concrete question has to be determined by all sorts of considerations.
“Where your judgment comes down depends on how you see things at that particular point in time, and that’s why I wouldn’t add my voice to denounce anybody who takes a decision which I may not think in my own head, abstractly, that that’s the best decision, and it’s the only way solidarity can work.”
Skerrit and Pierre have expressed support for Gonsalves, 79, for a sixth term as prime minister in the general election, widely expected next month, ahead of the February 2026 constitutional deadline.
The three leaders spoke to the media after touring the construction of the Modern Port Facility in Kingstown.
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