PM disappointed Cuba not at security forum

He has also expressed disappointment that Cuba was not a part of the Twelfth Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas (CDEMA) now underway in Port-of-Spain. Cuba is the only country in the hemisphere not represented in the 34-member CDEMA having been exempted from the inception in 1995 in Williamsburg, Virginia, due to its communist ideology.

Addressing the opening of the three-day meeting yesterday at the Hyatt Regency, Rowley said, “the wave of new threats which threatens this era demands nothing less than our undivided attention to the institutionalisation of robust mechanisms for information sharing, continuous cooperation and collaboration - not next year, not next month, but now.” CDEMA regulations, he said, recognises that member states were not homogeneous in nature.

As such the security and defense challenges of the hemisphere and global community, he said, transcend geography, language, and political, social and cultural barriers and as such there was need for mechanisms for enhanced cooperation and collaboration.

“It is against that background,” he said, “I am disappointed today that Cuba is not here. Cuba is a part of the Caribbean. Cuba is a part of the hemisphere. If we say that geography, language, political systems and social standing is what define us, then Cuba should be here.” Noting that defense and security mechanisms exists at sub-regional levels, such as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Rowley said, “notwithstanding the existence of bilateral and sub-regional agreements and treaties in the areas of defense and security, there is no overarching cooperation policy for the Americas.” TT is the lead head in the CARICOM quasi cabinet for crime and security.

He said, “In fact, the Americas is the only region in the world that does not have a hemispheric defense and security cooperation policy.” Security cooperation policies, he noted, exists among the nations of the European Union, African Union, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which can boast of the existence and effective implementation of policies in the area of defense and security.

He suggested that coming out of the conference themed “Strengthening Defense and Security Cooperation in the Hemisphere in an increasingly Volatile Global Environment” can come a resolution of the need for such a hemispheric policy. Security was too important an issue for the hemisphere not to be dealt with collectively, he said, and the time to act was now.

“The discussions here in Port-of- Spain,” he said, “can lay the foundation for the development of a hemispheric framework to improve cooperation and coordination among the defense and security authorities of the hemisphere.” Moreover, he said, Trinidad and Tobago was “being optimistic” that dialogue and diplomatic access, hemispheric security and defense cooperation policy beginning with strengthened humanitarian emergency assistance, would eventually lead to the adoption of a comprehensive policy framework to guide civil to military, and military to civil cooperation