AT the CARICOM Heads of Government confabulation presently taking place in St. Kitts, the Trinidadian Prime Minister made a complaint against CARICOM countries in relation to an enquiry made by Trinidad. She also criticised lack of democracy in Cuba.
On both counts, the PM can be seriously faulted. Let’s look at her complaint. She explained that one of her citizens was kidnapped, allegedly by state authorities of another country and flown to Trinidad. Here are her words:“I say [it] still concerns me, how one of my citizens was kidnapped in another CARICOM state and when I inquired, the Secretariat could not give me an answer up to today. That should never happen… I say to CARICOM, that response, non-response, it may be the result of poor management, lax accountability… so I want to reaffirm that the CARICOM should be the voice for all, not just for the governing parties….”
One is at a loss to fathom this thinking from the PM. Since the birth of CARICOM, Trinidad has endangered CARICOM by not playing by the rules. Successive Trinidadian PMs have treated Guyana flippantly, condescendingly and downright insultingly over the past 50 years as a member of CARICOM.
For over 50 years, Trinidad has not been abiding by the legal rules that hold CARICOM together. Trinidad has been violating the Single Market and Economy regulations since its inception. Guyana has borne the brunt of Trinidad’s intransigence. Years ago, I wondered out loudly how every Guyana leader from independence to the present time has allowed Trinidad to mistreat Guyana for over 50 years as a CARICOM member.
It is not the ingrained habit of Trinidad violating CARICOM legal trading rules; it is the unilateral action against Guyanese citizens the past 50 years. Every major Guyanese investor has faced insurmountable hurdles in Trinidad with a majority unable to endure the nightmares. I know a Guyanese businessman who tried to start a car- importation firm in Trinidad. He was literally run out of Trinidad. I will always remember his words when we discussed the issue. He said: “Boy, dem Trinis don’t want we in deh country.”
I went to film Joel Bhagwandin for the Freddie Kissoon Show at his office. It is a spanking four-level building on Camp Street. I asked Joel who owns the building. He said it is a Trinidadian. Show me a similar building owned by a Guyanese in Trinidad. He will get a nervous breakdown before his various permits are approved.
Unilateral action against Guyana was not confined to investment, but also to travel. For over 60 years, Guyanese airline passengers have faced horrendous mistreatment, first by BWIA which later became Caribbean Airlines. There should have been a one-off holiday in Guyana when Guyana accepted foreign airlines that do non-stop flights from Guyana to foreign countries without stopover in Trinidad.
The Trinidadian PM should be the last person on Planet Earth to talk about CARICOM insensitivities to member-states that complain. If one were to tally the number of complaints CARICOM members have made to the secretariat, over 90 per cent will come from Guyana against Trinidad.
Before we move to the PM’s complaint against Cuba, it must be recorded that CARICOM has to stop Trinidad’s daily violation of the fundamental planks the integration movement rests on.
Mrs Persad-Bissessar says that Cuba does not have democracy, but so are dozens of strategically placed countries in the world that Trinidad has trade relationships with. Israel is one of the worst countries in the world. Only one CARICOM Head has made an official visit to Israel and that is Patrick Manning of Trinidad in 2005. Trade between Trinidad and Israel has increased each year since 2022, when it stood at 3.38 million American dollars.
Why pick on Cuba? And since when democracy is a criterion by which we judge the nations of the world to have relationships with and what exactly does democracy mean?
I sat down three weeks ago in the home of Dr Mark Kirton, one of my friends over the past 50 years when we met as freshmen at UG, and I posed a question to him that has implications for traditional political theory and post-colonial philosophy.
I asked Mark if a country could be a liberal, democratic state if that state participates in the perpetuation of genocide or goes around the world undermining freedoms in other lands by bombing and invading other countries. Germany is a dyed-in-the wool supporter of Israel which it finances through arms transfers and actual cash. Germany refuses at an absolute level to condemn any action of Israel at any time. I end by asking the Trinidad PM if she thinks that one of the most totalitarian governments in the world, Saudi Arabia, is democratic.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.
