Large number of NGOs issue a statement
Yesterday, October 19, marked the anniversary of the US invasion of Grenada. Forty-two years later, regional sovereignty remains a vexed question in the Caribbean, and it is being put to the test by the current US military incursions that have resulted in six strikes against vessels in the region, killing 28 persons so far. The claim, without providing any evidence to the international community or the region in whose waters these attacks are taking place, is that the vessels were trafficking drugs. This somehow gives the US the right to summarily execute people by blowing up boats, due process be damned.
Last week’s strike killed two men from Trinidad and Tobago, Chad “Charpo” Joseph and Rishi Samaroo. In an article published in the October 17th edition of the UK Guardian, the family of Joseph stated that “Everybody have a right to due process and due process wasn’t given. It don’t look like we running under our government no more when it comes to the waters – that’s not Trinidad waters.” According to the Guardian, Joseph’s uncle added, “I just want to know why Donald Trump killing poor people just so…Just because he going after the people gas and their oil. He going after people riches and killing poor people children.”
The article also described fisherfolk from Las Cuevas, the village that the two men hail from, of changing their routes, even of not wanting to go to sea at all, because they “were afraid of being caught in the crossfire.” The most recent strike has left two survivors, who have been returned to their countries of Colombia and Ecuador; according to a Reuters report, legal experts say this means “that the U.S. military will not have to grapple with thorny legal issues surrounding military detention for suspected drug traffickers, whose alleged crimes do not fall neatly under the laws of war.”
Following a prolonged and frankly embarrassing silence, last Saturday, October 18, CARICOM finally issued the following statement. Notably, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago reserved its position:
“They reaffirmed the principle of maintaining the Caribbean Region as a Zone of Peace and the importance of dialogue and engagement towards the peaceful resolution of disputes and conflict. CARICOM remains willing to assist towards that objective. CARICOM Heads of Government reiterated their continued commitment to fighting narcotrafficking and the illegal trade in small arms and light weapons which adversely affect the Region. They underscored that efforts to overcome these challenges should be through ongoing international cooperation and within international law. They reaffirmed unequivocal support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries in the Region and the safety and livelihoods of the people of the Region.”
Caribbean people demand more. On August 25th, The Assembly of Caribbean People issued a declaration, a call to the people of the Caribbean, opposing the region’s militarization and calling for the Caribbean to remain a Zone of Peace. And just in the past four days, over fifty Caribbean organisations from across the region as well as the diaspora have so far signed on to the statement crafted and led by Caribbean women in the region, opposing US military incursions in the region and insisting on a collective and non-negotiable position on the part of Caribbean governments in defense of regional sovereignty. We share the statement, and the list of organisations:
We, Caribbean advocates for equality, security and development within and between States note with grave concern the recent incursions by the U.S. military in the Caribbean Sea. This signifies egregious breaches in international law. It has resulted in the extrajudicial killing of at least 27 people to date – two of whom are nationals of Trinidad and Tobago. These incursions threaten the Caribbean tourism industry by jeopardising the safety of cruise ships and sailboats; They interfere with the livelihood of fishermen and all those who depend on the sea to feed their families. They also violate laws protecting our regional waters and the people who depend on them. They contravene the commitment of our region by our leaders past and present and our citizens to establish our region as a zone of peace.
Notwithstanding this commitment, earlier this month, Grenada’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a ‘request’ from the American government for the temporary installation of radar equipment and associated technical personnel at the Maurice Bishop International Airport. In an official statement, the Grenadian government made the assurance that “any decision taken will be guided by Grenada’s sovereignty, public safety, and national interest, including the protection of our tourism industry, the traveling public, and the country’s economic well-being”.
Grenada should indeed seek to guard its sovereignty jealously in the face of this action by the U.S., which amounts to an exercise of power in keeping with an updated Munroe Doctrine, cloaked as a request, by arguably the most powerful state in the world, over a small island developing country. The region should oppose the insistence by the United States that the only way to halt drugs and weapons trafficking in the region, and its subsequent flow into their country, is to unilaterally arrogate to themselves the role of judge, jury and executioner in Caribbean waters, in flagrant violation of international law. What effects will the presence of American warships, drones and personnel have on the sovereignty of Caribbean States, especially in their foreign policies? How will US militarisation affect our democratic rights and freedoms?
The Caribbean already has security systems in place and some of these such as the ship-rider agreement already include working with the US. These systems are being undermined by the current illegal buildup of massive US military assets in the region. The US has produced no concrete evidence for its claims that the boats it has attacked in the region are transporting illegal drugs and gangs. It has offered no evidence for its assertion that the region is a major transit route for narcotics. In fact, according to the UNODC, cocaine trafficking flows between 2020 and 2023 move from the Pacific Coast of South America to North America and from South America’s Atlantic Coast to Western and Central Europe. In fact, the UNDOC’s map of cocaine trafficking flows shows that the Caribbean including Southern Caribbean where the US military is stationed has the lowest volume of flow of drugs to North America. Additionally, Fentanyl trafficking is reported to be concentrated in North America and there is no evidence that these opioids and methamphetamines are manufactured in any of the countries of South America or the Caribbean. On the other hand, it is irrefutable that the US is the most powerful military power and the largest manufacturer and exporter of guns in the world.
The US has long wielded disproportionate power over the small island states of the Caribbean and its peoples. We call on our governments to strengthen our sovereignty, defend our right to peace, the livelihoods of our peoples, and our right to be safe from the consequences of militarization.
We urge the Grenadian government and people of Grenada to stand firm and refuse the US request to extend its military capacity by installing radar and technical personnel in Grenada.
We call on Caricom to support Grenada’s refusal of this request, and to stand up for our independence, knowing as we do that this may result in real costs at the hands of the US.
We recall CARICOM’s 2014 declaration of the region as a Zone of Peace, reiterated at a meeting on September 25, under the theme “Promoting Social Cohesion and Inclusive Governance to Foster Community Resilience and Sustainable peace.” CARICOM’s reaffirmation as a Zone of Peace is not lip service but rather the bedrock on which all hope for the region’s present and future sustainable, human, environmental, economic, social and cultural development rests. The Caribbean was formed through a history of genocide, slavery and indenture. It has built its sovereignty from its refusal to repeat or continue the legacies of this violence in the present. We strongly condemn the United States’ efforts, both obvious and covert, to strong arm the region into acquiescence with measures that are inimical to peace, transparency and the rule of Law. In the words of the late Barbadian Prime Minister Errol Barrow, “we are satellites of none,’ and in the words of the late Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, “we are in nobody’s backyard.”
Regional Network of Caribbean Women and Caribbean Women’s NGOs
Wapichan Wiizi Women’s Movement
Equality Bahamas, The Bahamas
Tamùkke Feminists, Guyana
Womantra, Trinidad & Tobago
Stichting Projekta, Suriname
Red Thread, Guyana
Jamaica Peace Council, Jamaica
La Tejadora, Puerto Rico
CAFRA, Suriname
CAFRA, Trinidad and Tobago
St. Kitts Nevis Alliance for Equality
TARC, Tobago Alliance for Resilient Communities
Groundation, Trinidad and Tobago
Boycott Divest Sanction (BDS) Guyana
SLVSIM
Caribbean Family Planning Affiliation
The Association of Haitian Nationals in Guyana
Trinidad and Tobago Community for Positive Women
The Indaba project, The Bahamas
Stand Up For Jamaica
SASOD Guyana
CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice
Operation Safe Space (Barbados)
Organisation for the Victory of the People, Guyana.
CEDAW Committee of Trinidad and Tobago
Scholars Strike For Liberation, Canada/Trinbago.
CEDAW Committee of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago
The Greenheart Movement, Guyana
The Haiti Support Group, Guyana
MiRiDom
Raise Your Voice Saint Lucia Inc
Refuerza Solutions
Life In Leggings: Caribbean Alliance Against Gender-Based Violence (Barbados)
Soar Caribbean
Trinbago for Palestine
Gigi Impact Advisory Ltd, United Kingdom
Caribbean Women of the Diaspora, Canada/Trinidad and Tobago
Equals Inc (Barbados)
Trinidad and Tobago Youth Ambassadors
Head of External Affairs and Social Justice New World Alliances
Freedom Coalition, St. Lucia
Raise Your Voice Saint Lucia Inc, 🇱🇨
The Barbados LGBTQ+ Coalition- Barbados
Journal of International Women’s Studies
OPSEU/SEFPO Canada
Caribbean Institute of Ecoliberation, Grenada
Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE), Saint Lucia
Women’s Caucus of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago
Relational Healing Institute
R. E. S. Returning Expat. Service, Grenada
Bahamas National Reparations Committee
PNP Women’s Movement, Jamaica
Colours Caribbean
Citizen Rights to the City
Yukuriba Creative Farming Community, GuyanaSource: Stabroek News