News
Yvonne Webb
As he marks his 76th birthday, former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley said he finds it necessary to sign on to the statement of ten former heads of Caricom pleading for the region to remain as a zone of peace.
Trinidad and Tobago has declined to endorse the statement issued by sitting Caricom heads in the midst of the growing presence of the United States military occupation in the region and the spate of deadly maritime strikes against alleged drug traffickers off Venezuela.
The lethal strikes of vessels has led to the deaths of Venezuelans and reportedly two TT nationals, all believed to be involved in narco-trafficking.
Rowley in a social media post on October 24 condemned the position taken by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, calling it “reckless” and a “dangerous dereliction of duty,” stating he is embarrassed for TT.
Rowley issued the following statement, accompanied by the regional statement.
“Today, on my 76th birthday, I find it necessary and dutiful to sign on to this historic statement of former Heads of Caricom.
“It is with a deep sense of loss and sadness that I reflect on the leadership provided by TT at an earlier time, within all the fundamental principles outlined and embodied in this statement.
“It was TT’s voice supported by all my colleagues when we affirmed that together we are stronger. We maintained, even in the most difficult of circumstances, that “we may be small but not insignificant and our voice and our interests should be respected.
”I am today embarrassed to accept that with our proud record of leadership and accomplishments, that today, it is TT that recklessly subscribes to the dispensing with these principles in the expectation of plenty. It is a dangerous dereliction of duty, under any circumstances, to embrace the discarded colonial mantra that might is right and that the rule of law, local or international is an inconvenience and a humbug.”
The other former leaders who signed the joint statement are Baldwin Spencer (Antigua and Barbuda); Said Musa Dean Barrow (Belize); Freundel Staurt (Barbados): Edison James (Dominica); Tilson Thomas (Grenada); Donald Ramotar (Guyana); Bruce Golding and PJ Patterson (Jamaica) and Kenny Anthony (St Lucia).
In their statement, the heads called for a “pull back from military build up to avoid any diminution of peace, stability and development within our regional space that the potential to pull the region into conflicts which are not of our making.”
The also affirmed the region’s commitment to regional peace and security as set out by leaders at a 1972 meeting in Chaguaramas when the late Dr Eric Williams was TT’s prime minister.
They noted decades-long co-operation including with the US under the Shiprider agreement to targeting the narco-traffickers all within the rule of law.
“The gravity of present signals demands that we use all existing channels to perpetuate a zone of peace on the edifice of respect for our sovereignty.”
Rowley and the former heads appeal comes as a US warship, the USS Gravely is due to dock in Port of Spain on October 26 for a five-day visit on “military exercises”, the government announced on October 23.
The warship is part of a fleet deployed by the Trump administration to the Caribbean on its campaign against narco-traffickers which international relations experts warn signals a possible attempt at regime change to remove Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.