US not stopping military aid to Caribbean

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO and the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean have nothing to fear from legislation which threatens to deny them American military and economic assistance under the US-Caribbean Third Border Initiative (TBI). Last Thursday, the Nethercutt Amendment was attached to the fiscal year 2005 Foreign Aid Bill and passed by a 244-166 vote in the US House of Representatives. The purpose of the amendment is to ban certain kinds of economic aid to US allies if they fail to sign a bilateral accord forbidding them from transferring US citizens, including military personnel, or foreign nationals working for the US to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Under the Nethercutt Amendment, NATO members as well as 36 other nations, including “virtually all of the English-speaking Caribbean,” South Africa, Costa Rica and Poland would be ineligible for Economic Support Funds (ESF) available to “strategic US partners.” A One World US news report states that among the most affected would be “the Caribbean states that receive US$9 million in part to bolster immigration and border security.” The Caribbean currently receives this assistance from the US under the TBI which was announced by US President George W Bush at the Third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canada in April 2001. TT was one of several Caribbean nations which pledged support to the TBI at the Special Summit of the Americas held on January 12-13 in Monterrey, Mexico. Under the TBI, the Caribbean also receives $20 million from the US in HIV/AIDS funding as well as funds to assist in critical areas of law enforcement, education and disaster preparedness.

Senior officials at the US Embassy in Port-of-Spain said the legislation still had to be approved by the US Senate and President Bush before it became law. Top government officials agreed that it would be premature to comment on the legislation at this time but said it was unlikely that the US would do anything that could jeopardise its national security, particularly in regions close to its shores, or hinder its war against terrorism. In July 2003, the US cut military funding to several nations, including TT, which ratified the 1998 Rome Statute that created the ICC and refused to sign a bilateral immunity agreement with the US that would guarantee that they would not turn over US citizens or foreign nationals working for the US to the court.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning said TT fully supported the ICC since it was the brainchild of former President Arthur NR Robinson. Former National Security Minister Howard Chin Lee and US Ambassador to TT Dr Roy Austin, said the US military funding which TT lost was mainly in the form of scholarships and not in critical areas such as providing equipment to local security forces. Despite that cut, Chin Lee indicated in an August 2003 interview that TT was able to secure a US$945,000 agreement with the American government, with some of those funds being used to upgrade the nation’s coastal radar network.