The recent CARICOM Heads of Government meeting included discussions on the topic of security.
CARICOM agreed on the the “Montego Bay Declaration On Transnational Organised Crime And Gangs“, which commits, albeit in very generalized language, to further action and coordination to enhance security vis a vis criminal gangs.
In addition, one of the invited guests to the meeting was the head of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza. Media reports suggest that there were discussions about increasing INTERPOL support for the region.
Caricom looks to Interpol
July 8, 2025
ROSE HALL, St James — In keeping with a focus on curbing crime at the regional level, the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) was invited to talk strategy on day two of the ongoing 49th staging of the Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), being held in Montego Bay.
“I am here at the invitation of Dr Andrew Holness, prime minister of Jamaica, to hear from the heads of government and to discuss with them how Interpol can support the countries from the Caribbean in the fight against criminal organisations,” Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza told the Jamaica Observer Monday on the margins of the high-level confab.
“Our focus is on how we can get the members of criminal organisations to be identified, and support countries in the region on their investigations and potential arrests, and also how we can support in the fight against drug trafficking and the trafficking of weapons in the region,” he added.
Speaking hours earlier in his first public address as Caricom chair, Holness had stressed the urgency with which crime must be addressed within the region. He noted that gang networks have evolved far beyond traditional street-level crime, posing a threat to the region’s security, and must be given the same urgency and coordination that characterises global responses to terrorism.
“I am on record as saying that we need to launch a war on gangs of a similar magnitude and nature to the war on terror,” Holness reiterated.
He also cited a July 2024 United Nations report that highlighted the problem of gangs in Jamaica, St Lucia, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago, noting that the report also linked surging drug production in South America and widespread firearm availability to rising homicide rates.
The Caricom chair urged the region’s countries to work together to cut off the access of criminal networks to resources, including the financial system.
Top of the list of Interpol’s seven global policing goals listed on its website is a commitment to “enable the global law enforcement community to more effectively counter and prevent terrorism through international cooperation”. Another of its goals is to “strengthen environmental security and support the promotion of sustainable livelihoods by countering crimes that affect the environment and climate”.
On Monday, Urquiza told the Observer that during his session at the Caricom conference he presented “some of the capabilities of Interpol, some of them that could be applied and used in support of the activities of law enforcement agencies in the region”.
He said the meeting went well.
“It was a strong feedback on how they believe Interpol can play a more active role in the region, and we’ll follow up on that and discuss concrete activities that can be tailored and developed for the region,” he said…
Source: Jamaica Observer
and in another story
INTERPOL to expand support for CARICOM
CARICOM chair, Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness, said regional leaders met with INTERPOL Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza during the 49th Heads Meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica, over the last few days and that the organisation was “committed to strengthening cooperation and expanding access to its global resources”.
“A secure CARICOM is a viable CARICOM and as such security remains high on the agenda for the duration of my chairmanship and beyond,” Holness said as he also announced that Heads “adopted The Montego Bay Declaration On Transnational Organised Crime And Gangs, underscoring our united stance against criminal networks”.
Holness said that while in the past the issue of serious crime may have been seen as a Jamaica problem, “now it is a regional problem, and all heads have to be addressing it”.
He welcomed the expected increased support from INTERPOL.
“INTERPOL is the premier global policing organisation. They have incredible resources. They have massive databases which can be of use to us in dealing with this organised criminal enterprise, and therefore, we are exploring ways to intensify,” the CARICOM chair said.
“We do have a very strong relationship with INTERPOL, but we’re looking at ways to intensify that. And more than that, we are also sharing with other countries in the region. We’ve put on a mini security expo to show other countries in the region what Jamaica is doing and how what we’re doing could be replicated in their own space,” he said on Tuesday during the closing press conference of the CARICOM meeting.
Source: NationNews
For further information on efforts to tackle criminal issues in the region see The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS)