I refer to my letter on June 9, captioned ‘Hosting of CARIFESTA should be a matter of pride’, which highlighted the refusal of The Bahamas to host the event on two consecutive occasions.

In that letter I had mentioned that The Bahamas’ reluctance to shoulder this responsibility is not good exemplification of true CARICOM partnership.

This makes it very obvious that most CARICOM nations are now more driven to act in their own national interest than towards the Caribbean Community as a whole.

Some Caribbean nations, because of more advantageous collaboration, no longer feel obligated to act in the interest of CARICOM. Right now for example, the union between Trinidad and Tobago and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is seen as one of the major threats to the CARICOM region.

The membership of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) which has appointed only three CARICOM countries is bound to generate segregation among the other regions.

At the Heads of Government Summit in July, leaders need to demonstrate a realistic approach to address these issues if CARICOM is going to survive. Otherwise, the hope of comprehensive regional integration, which has been alive since 1958, would be lost and the Caribbean regions would lose a structure that has so far kept it together
D. DYALSINGH