BARBADOS’ Errol Barrow and Guyana’s Forbes Burnham belonged to an exclusive club as students in London; the West Indian Students Union in London, and this bond conjoined in a movement that precipitated the CARIFTA Agreement of 1965.Similar to Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations being the forerunner to the United Nations, with the same basic enshrined principles, the CARIFTA Agreement (initially signed by Burnham, Barrow, and Antigua’s V.C. Bird, then subsequently by other Caribbean Heads of State) preceded the formation of CARICOM, with the primary goal of integrating the Caribbean community so that it could collectively optimise and expand its trade and services advantages within the landscape of the paradigm of global trading and marketing policies and programmes.
However, the human quotient was not factored in, and good-faith agreements devolved into bad-faith actions down the years. In earlier times, during Guyana’s years of plenty and prosperity under the first administration of Dr. Cheddi Jagan as Premier, Barbadians emigrated to Guyana in droves, as did other “islanders”. They were welcomed with open arms, and today their descendants are some of the wealthiest families in Guyana, owning vast tracts of Guyanese real estate, to the extent where they have family reunions in Guyana on such a scale as to rival the Kennedys. Two Executive Presidents of Guyana are grandchildren of Barbadians.
But times changed, and Guyana plummeted to the lowest rungs of the developmental indices during the 1970s and 80s, when practically every item was banned in this country, which began the suitcase trade in Guyana.
It was in Guyana’s times of need when our neighbours began treating us like dirt, and calling us dirt, as in “mudlanders”, and other degrading names, even while their own nationals were being treated as equals in our country, and descendants of their nationals were being elevated to the primary office of this land.

Conversely, a while back, the Prime Minister of Barbados initiated and implemented a Nazi-like deportation policy that targeted mainly Guyanese. While one grants that the economy of no West Indian state can buffer large-scale migration without detrimental impacts to its national fiscal dynamics and probable debilitation to its social infrastructure, solutions through bilateral and multi-lateral engagements between Heads of States should be sought for a humane approach to resolution of problem areas.

However, one must take into consideration the immense contributions immigrants make to the development of host countries.

Several of Guyana’s biggest entrepreneurial conglomerates, among them Gafsons and Banks, have invested heavily in Barbados and other sister territories in CARICOM. Apart from all the extended benefits, they have boosted job- and wealth-creation and contributed to the economies of the host nations by way of taxes etc.
Guyana’s Cheddi Jagan described this world as a human village in his call for a new dispensation in the human family, a dispensation wherein there would be an equitable distribution of the earth’s resources – as distinct from the exploitation by rich countries of the resources of poor nations which do not have the wherewithal to exploit their own resources for optimal benefits to their people.

In his “New Global Human Order”, Dr. Jagan posited, as an imperative, that our interdependence on each other must be recognised, and the sheer necessity to strategise together in order to optimise the unique strengths of each nation that will, conjoined, combat global challenges, must be fully explored and exploited if mankind is to survive new and emerging challenges to its existence on Planet Earth.

Skeptics describe the summits as “talk-shops”, and as a time for the “big boys” to puff their chests, beat their breasts, and then howl like Tarzan, challenging the rest of the pack. This may make for good copy and serve as wonderful ego-boosters, but how do these discussions redound to the good of our CARICOM collective of nations?

The Jagdeo Initiative on Agriculture is stagnating, because after all the promises and the rhetoric, most CARICOM states still have agriculture relegated to the back-burner of their national considerations. How many have come onboard the “Avoided Deforestation” train? Listening to these leaders, after they have had their closed-door sessions, one is charmed by the ostensible efforts toward conciliation and rapprochement, even over contentious issues, such as migration policies etc.; but when they return to their respective countries, how do they apply the resolutions formed to the integration process of CARICOM?

The West Indies Federation was established in 1958 by the British Caribbean Federation Act of 1956. However, except in sporadic instances, cooperative endeavours between CARICOM nations are still an elusive goal, with the critical CSME being a special component within the framework yet to be fully implemented. In all probability, the intentions of the Heads of States are good while they are meeting, because many joint communiqués have provided assurances that our leaders are committed to the principles enshrined in the Georgetown Accord of April 1973; but the collective citizenry of the CARICOM bloc yet awaits the fructification of a credible federation within the CARICOM fraternity of nations.

At the opening ceremony of the 30th Meeting of the Heads of Government of CARICOM, Guyana’s then President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, newly-appointed Chairman of the 15-nation bloc of CARICOM, said, inter alia, that we have witnessed, in practical ways, the benefits of increased functional cooperation in several important sectors, such as education, health, security, and the environment.

He also said that our human rights record is undeniable: “Many freedoms which our people enjoy are now firmly entrenched in our individual constitutions as well as in many regional and international instruments. Other nations, in fact, see our Caribbean society as a model of peace and social stability.

“In our relations with the rest of the world, we have been able, through improved co-ordination, to speak with one voice on matters of common interest and concern. In the process, we have enhanced not only our collective influence in decision-making, but also our image as proud and independent members of the family of nations.”

But Dr. Jagdeo was being statesmanlike here, because few have forgotten the vitriolic opposition he was subjected to from CARICOM partners when he stood and singly challenged the might of Europe during the EPA deliberations, which resulted in the mighty Europeans acceding to concessionary terms from which every CARICOM nation benefitted.
That is the signal yardstick by which one can measure the actual, as against the visionary, federation of nations of the Caribbean community.

However, President Donald Ramotar is embracing the concept of regionalism with zeal and commitment. Whether he will succeed where so many have failed is yet to be seen, because it takes equal commitment from all the member states for a truly integrated CARICOM.