This weekend the Caribbean community observes the 47^th Anniversary of the Treaty of Chaguaramas which established CARICOM. That treaty was signed at a pivotal period in the history of the Anglophone Caribbean. It came in the wake of the Black Power Movement which had raised the question of racial equality in our newly independent and soon to be independent countries. It also came in the wake of the collapse of the Federation a decade before. The failure of the Federation was a severe blow to the aspirations of the integration movement as it raised the question of whether our subregion possessed the capacity to move beyond its insularity to embrace a Pan-Caribbean ethos in the post-colonial era.

By 1973 it had become pellucid that it was difficult for small post-plantation political economies to survive as stand-alone entities in a world that was hostile to smallness and self-determination. It was that realisation that pushed the then leaders to reach for a balance between their individual sovereignty and the imperatives of smallness. Jamaica, whose referendum had set in train the breakup of the Federation was now under new leadership and took its place as one of the original signatories of the treaty.

So here we are almost five decades since the birth of CARICOM. There is indeed much to celebrate. First, the community has survived the many challenges to integration. It survived the ideological turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s when the Caribbean was a site of Cold War contestation. The Grenada revolution of 1979-83 was a novelty in the sub-region; it tested CARICOM’s tolerance for ideological diversity. In the end the revolution imploded, and America invaded Grenada with the help of some leaders acting in their individual capacities. It took some time for the movement to regain its equilibrium, but in the final analysis it survived.

By the turn of the 1990s, the world had changed. There was a transition from Cold War to Globalisation which brought new challenges for small countries. The consolidation of global capital by the large countries meant that the Caribbean had to bring its integration praxis in line with these developments. The consensus was that CARICOM had to pursue both a deepening and widening of the movement. This led to an acceptance of membership from beyond the Anglophone Caribbean. Hence the membership of Suriname and Haiti.

This broadening of the membership was followed by two important institutional shifts that sought to deepen the movement. First, there was the movement towards the creation of a single market and economy known as CSME. The CSME led to freer movement of goods, services, and people. This was a massive breakthrough that went to the heart of the quest for a common market which was the initial objective of CARICOM. Today citizens of the region can move from country to country without visas and they can invest in any country across the region.

As is the case with intra-regional changes in economics, there was need to regionalise other institutions. So, it was inevitable that a regional court came into play in 2004 when the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) was launched. This proved more challenging than the CSME as the vast majority of member states stayed out of the court citing the fear that it would come under the political influence of political interests. After a decade and a half only Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and Guyana have joined.

Ironically as the community observes its 47th Anniversary, the fears of the majority of member states seem to have taken center stage. Both the outgoing and incoming chairs of CARICOM have taken more than a fraternal interest in Guyana’s ongoing electoral impasse. Not since the Grenada saga in 1983 have regional leaders so inserted themselves in the internal affairs of a member state.  This could have serious consequences for CARICOM going forward. As we write this editorial, the CCJ is being tested in a case on Guyana over which it has no jurisdiction. At the heart of the case is where does regionalism end and sovereignty begin.

Already there are calls among Guyanese for the country to leave CARICOM. Others are call for CARICOM to expel Guyana if one of the electoral contestants is declared the winner. So, it is not a comfortable anniversary.  The expectation that membership of the CCJ would increase may have been dealt a severe blow. And those who have advocated for a closer political alliance within the region would be sorely disappointed at the handling of the Guyana situation. When one adds to that the fallout over what to do with the regional airline, LIAT, these are indeed anxious times for CARICOM.

Not for the first time, the integration movement is on trial. How will it end? Only time will tell. But as we await the outcome, we can congratulate ourselves that we have survived. Integration of sovereign states is not an easy undertaking, even among those who calypsonian Black Stalin reminded in his epic “Caribbean Man came  “from the same place/ that make the same trip/ on the same ship .”