{"id":126010,"date":"2021-03-24T23:21:49","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T03:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=126010"},"modified":"2021-03-24T23:21:49","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T03:21:49","slug":"commentary-no-the-idea-of-caricom-is-not-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-no-the-idea-of-caricom-is-not-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Commentary: No, the idea of CARICOM is not dead"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Sir Ronald Sanders\u00a0<\/b><\/p>

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(The writer is Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto.\u00a0\u00a0The views expressed are entirely his own)\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

A commentary, published on March 8 by Camillo Gonsalves, a Minister of the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines, was headlined \u201cEvery Island for itself\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first line was unequivocal in stating that \u201cThe idea of CARICOM died on December 16, 2020\u201d.<\/p>

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Camillo Gonsalves is a Caribbean man, and an integrationist.\u00a0\u00a0Only deep frustration could have occasioned his decision to publish the commentary on his blogsite.\u00a0\u00a0In the event, his remarks prompted a series of questions to me from Johnson Johnrose, a Caribbean journalist of known repute.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I reproduce below the questions he posed and my answers.<\/p>

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Q.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Do you agree that the idea of CARICOM – the principle of solidarity, the ethos of all for one, and one for all – has died?\u00a0\u00a0Why?<\/p>\n

A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The \u2018idea\u2019 of CARICOM is not dead. The \u2018dream\u2019 of a more perfect union is not lost. The idea and the dream are too basic to our future for them to be abandoned.\u00a0\u00a0CARICOM as a whole is extremely rich in natural and human resources, but individual member countries are weak and vulnerable.\u00a0\u00a0In the international community, individual countries have little or no bargaining power; only when they act collectively do they have any strength.\u00a0\u00a0Fourteen votes collectively have a modicum of power; one vote, backed by no military might or economic clout, is by itself of little value.<\/p>

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Q.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What\u2019s your greatest concern about the future of the movement?\u200b<\/p>\n

A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That only the demands of survival, resulting from disaster, will cause leaders of the individual countries to recognize that the ‘sovereignty’ to which they cling is only exercised against each other; it is meaningless in the global power theatre where powerful countries and regions dictate their relationships.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Leaders should see the disaster looming in Climate Change and its threats to the very existence of islands and mainland territories with low lying coasts, to agriculture, to tourism, and to human habitats.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lack of individual capacity is evident in each country\u2019s inability to respond robustly to pandemics, such as COVID-19.\u00a0\u00a0None of them has large enough populations or enough money to compete with richer nations that have bought the available vaccines, depriving the rest of the world.<\/p>

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Q.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0CARICOM has endured a lot of internal strife but has managed to survive, could it be that the issue of Venezuela\u2019s sovereignty will be what destroys the movement?\u200b<\/p>

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It is not Venezuela\u00a0per se<\/i>\u00a0that has caused division and conflicting positions in CARICOM.\u00a0\u00a0The real cause is dependency.\u00a0\u00a0Some CARICOM countries depended on Venezuela for oil and ran up a large debt in deferred payments; others depend on the US and Canada for aid, markets, and help with borrowing.\u00a0\u00a0When CARICOM countries recognize that they could be less dependent on external forces and less obliged if they pool their resources and their sovereignty, they will be more independent in their decisions and action. This same argument applies to the cruise ship industry and to foreign airlines which play them off against each other, resulting in less revenues to each of them and greater advantage to the airlines and cruise operators.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why didn\u2019t Antigua and Barbuda join Trinidad and Tobago in seek boycotting the OAS until Guaido is removed?\u00a0\u200b<\/p>\n

Trinidad and Tobago has not boycotted the OAS ‘until Guaido’s representative is removed’.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Trinidad and Tobago is an active member of the OAS.\u00a0\u00a0Eleven of the 14 independent countries of CARICOM at the OAS do not recognize Guaido or his representative’s legitimacy in the OAS.\u00a0\u00a0These 11 countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, do not recognize Guaido’s representative or his vote or participation in any decision making in the OAS.\u00a0\u00a0Jamaica, the Bahamas and Haiti do deal with Guaido’s representative \u2013 this latter point was what motivated Gonsalves\u2019 blog.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How do you feel about CARICOM\u2019s current path?<\/p>\n

A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u200bIt is not good for the autonomy of individual states in the international community.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Such autonomy as they enjoy is being eroded.\u00a0\u00a0Economically, unless the leadership – at both the political and business levels – acknowledge that their markets are puny and their production minuscule in global terms, and that integrating their markets and production would strengthen each of them as integral parts of a larger, more competitive unit (in terms of raising money on better term and bargaining for better terms of trade) the current path will weaken each of them still further.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the truth is that they all know that, ultimately, they need CARICOM which is why none have left it, and none have chosen to destroy it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It may well be that those who encourage the notion of their own vehicle, keep the engine of the CARICOM bus running because they know that they will need to board it to drive to salvation.<\/p>\n

I understand Camillo Gonsalves frustration. I share it. But I also know that we cannot pronounce CARICOM dead.\u00a0\u00a0Its lifeblood continues to pump in the veins of Caribbean people everywhere who long for a single region in which they can travel freely on one passport, move to jobs, set up businesses anywhere in the region, just like the people of the 50 states of the United States do.<\/p>\n

The imperatives of survival rest not in separateness but in togetherness where the bounty of the region is shared by all in a truly integrated single area., and where standing together in the international community gives the Caribbean solid meaning.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This does not mean giving up national identity; it means recognizing that we can also benefit from a Caribbean identity – just as people from Texas are Texans and Americans; and people from Italy are Italians and Europeans, so too we can be Jamaicans, Barbadians, Antiguans and yet be Caribbean.<\/p>\n

Responses and previous commentaries:\u00a0<\/i>www.sirronaldsanders.com<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

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By Sir Ronald Sanders\u00a0 (The writer is Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto.\u00a0\u00a0The views expressed are entirely his own)\u00a0 A commentary, published on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":125552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCommentary: No, the idea of CARICOM is not dead - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-no-the-idea-of-caricom-is-not-dead\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commentary: No, the idea of CARICOM is not dead\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sir Ronald Sanders\u00a0 (The writer is Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto.\u00a0\u00a0The views expressed are entirely his own)\u00a0 A commentary, published on […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-no-the-idea-of-caricom-is-not-dead\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-25T03:21:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Sir-Ron-Sanders.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-no-the-idea-of-caricom-is-not-dead\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-no-the-idea-of-caricom-is-not-dead\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"Commentary: No, the idea of CARICOM is not dead\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-25T03:21:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-25T03:21:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-no-the-idea-of-caricom-is-not-dead\/\"},\"wordCount\":1018,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-no-the-idea-of-caricom-is-not-dead\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:683\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Sir-Ron-Sanders.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-no-the-idea-of-caricom-is-not-dead\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-no-the-idea-of-caricom-is-not-dead\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/commentary-no-the-idea-of-caricom-is-not-dead\/\",\"name\":\"Commentary: No, the idea of CARICOM is not dead - 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