Caricom gets US backlash

THE EDITOR: Caricom as a formidable entity in the region not in the foreseeable future. There are still endless problems to sort out. We are yet to determine where we stand in the scheme of things: with regard to our strengths and limitations, and our fortitude and vision. Unfortunately for us, we are captives of our tunnel vision. There is an old saying: if you don’t know where you going, any road can take you there. We in the Caribbean walk around like ostriches, with our heads buried in the sand. The blind leading the blind.

I am alluding to the US/Caricom standoff in the (ICC) fiasco. As ridiculous as it may seem, this is just America’s way of “giving it” to Caricom for its show of disapproval for the US handling of the US/Iraqi war. Less we forget, the US senator for Caribbean Affairs visited the Caribbean voicing US dissatisfaction with regard to our expressed sentiments favouring Iraq. To use his words: “We would like to know who our friends are.” This utternance went over the heads of our Caricom leaders with each one of them eating his apple, yet expecting to have it. We alienate our benefactors yet we expect their support. One does not have to be in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Diplomatic Corps to know that this impasse has to do with Caricom’s adamant disagreement with the US handling of the US/Iraq war and very little, if anything, to do with its (US) demand for immunity from prosecution of US citizens wanted for crimes.

The Mafia, a US criminal organisation, was famous for making its adversaries offers they could not refuse. In this case the inverse is applicable; the US is making Caricom an offer it cannot accept. The US is clandestinely giving Caricom the message that is known elsewhere if not in TT, which is: who pays the piper calls the tunes. We “pussyfoot,” when it comes to politics in TT and the region, but in other parts of the world politics is regarded as serious business. Our brand of politics is practised solely in the region not elsewhere. Major countries are in the new millennium, sad to say, we are not. Just to illustrate what we have to deal with in the region in the form of politics. The US military funding to TT alone, between 1999 and 2002, amounted to well over $40.2 million (TT). Yet Dr Gonsales, the PM of St Vincent allegedly remarked that the US military aid ban on six Caricom countries would not have a great impact, since he did not view the aid as being that substantial. As fate would have it, while the words of the PM of St Vincent were still reverberating in the region, the affected islands in the region were already looking to TT for financial assistance. The few misguided islands in Caricom, with which unfortunately TT happens to align itself, should be aware of the fact that Caricom accounts for about 25 percent of business in the region, while the US accounts for well over 40 to 45 percent. No one should harbour the thought that I am pro-American and anti-Caribbean, neither is true. The fact of the matter is: that we are being led by a few incompetent people in the region, with vendettas of their own making that we should be guarded against; lest we end up as another Venezuela or Cuba in the region, with the moniker — “Caricom”.  My advice to the people of the region: it is not folly to question the intents and motives of our “so called leaders,”

In conclusion: our Foreign Affairs Minister and Prime Minister would have us believe that the issue that has taken centre stage has to do with the failure of six Caricom states to grant immunity exemptions for any American having to face trial by the ICC, which could not be further from the truth. The US position is just a backlash, for Caricom’s anti-American posture in the US/Iraq war. The US senator of Caribbean Affairs plea to Caricom remained unheeded. Caricom persisted in flexing muscles it did not have. We should have learnt from major countries like China and Japan who remained neutral throughout the entire war.The President of France spoke out against the US, initially, but was forced to visit the US subsequently, with the view of mending fences with the US. His meeting with President Bush was primarily for damage control. If the president of a major country as France, can “eat humble pie” to circumvent retaliation from the US, so can we. Actions like these are necessary for acceptance in the global sphere, which we are pursuing.  Nothing is wrong with being forthright and belligerent, but we should be cognisant of our limitations and could learn from  the President of France how and when to recant. Delusions of grandeur, coupled with unprecedented miscue, got us into this impasse with the US; and being well known for our stranglehold on deadlocks, only divine intervention can bring about an amicable resolution to this deplorable situation. In case one should have any misgivings, a cartoon in one of our local newspapers on July 10, says it all.

ULRIC GUY
Point Fortin