The recent UN General Assembly saw several CARICOM leaders wrestle with the longstanding issue of the role of Venezuela in the region as well as the more recent U.S. military actions notionally targeted at Venezuelan drug gangs.
In their speeches some reiterated the long-standing mantra that the Caribbean is a Zone of Peace. Others refuted that claim. The U.S. President has his own view…
Barbados PM: “War not the answer”
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley used the United Nations 80th General Assembly platform yesterday to warn the United States and Venezuela that their rising tension could put the southern Caribbean at risk, even as a result of an accident.
“I need not tell you, therefore, what a war can do. It is not acceptable for our islands, our countries, to be viewed as collateral damage,” she said during a 30-minute address.
Mottley said that in the Caribbean Sea, “we’re now seeing a shocking violation of a hemispheric understanding that the Caribbean be treated as a zone of peace”.
“There has been a build-up in military assets in the last few weeks in the Caribbean by both sides, by the United States of America and by Venezuela. We believe that any such build-up could occasion just an accident and, if it does, a simple accident can put the southern Caribbean at disproportionate risk,” she cautioned.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley Source: Stabroek News
“The Caribbean is not a zone of peace”
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar declared this to the world yesterday, a statement that was diametrically opposed to that of two Caricom leaders who also addressed the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
While two Caricom prime ministers called for dialogue between the United States and Venezuela, Persad-Bissessar threw full support behind United States President Donald Trump and thanked him on two occasions for the US military presence in the Caribbean as she highlighted the murderous state of Trinidad and Tobago and the pressing issue of illegal migration.
Speaking earlier yesterday, both Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and St Vincent and Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves stated that the Caribbean was a zone of peace and used their UN addresses to emphasise the region’s peaceful identity and to call for a de-escalation of military action around Venezuela.
However, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness did not criticise the US and instead argued that the Caribbean will only be a zone of peace with a united front against transnational crime.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar Source: Trinidad Daily Express
Guyana: “mature and open discussions on the US military presence in the region“
President Ali said that Guyana has consistently promoted the region as a zone of peace and has responded to threats with diplomacy and truth rather than hostility.
“Every single day, the Venezuelan government attacks me personally, attacks this country. They say the worst things about us. But we have never responded in a hostile way. We responded with facts and truth,” he said, underscoring his country’s commitment to measured and principled diplomacy.
President Ali emphasised the importance of intelligence sharing and collaborative discussions among regional partners to understand the implications of military movements fully.
“What is needed is a meeting of minds, a meeting to share intelligence and to share information, so a fuller understanding of what is at stake here for all of us,” he said, adding that through open dialogue, transparency, and regional cooperation, Caribbean countries can collectively safeguard peace and stability while addressing emerging security challenges.
President Ali, Guyana Source: Jamaica Observer
The U.S. President, however, is reported to have decided what he will call it.
President Donald Trump is declaring drug cartels to be “unlawful combatants” and informed members of Congress the United States is in an “non-international armed conflict” with them. .“The president determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States,” reads the memo from the Pentagon, which was obtained by Associated Press and The New York Times. The move comes after the president conducted four armed strikes in the Caribbean on vessels the administration claimed carried drugs. Seventeen alleged drug traffickers were killed in those attacks, of which at least three took place off the coast of Venezuela. Legal experts and human rights groups questioned Trump’s actions, saying it carried a dangerous precedent about the use of executive power. However, by saying his actions are part of an active armed conflict, Trump appears to be using war time powers to justify the strikes.
Source: Miami Herald
See also US is in ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels, Trump says | AP News
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