Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s explosive speech at the 50th CARICOM Summit in St. Kitts has shattered any illusion of Trinidad and Tobago as a reliable partner in Caribbean integration.
Her “Trumpian” broadsides – dismissing the bloc as dysfunctional, accusing members of meddling, and targeting Cuba and Venezuela – weren’t mere frustration; they were a deliberate betrayal of regional solidarity, exposing her as a leader who prioritises U.S. patronage over collective strength.
This should come as no surprise since she’s always looked elsewhere – other than CARICOM – for support and allies: India and the United States, for example. In this context she’s EXACTLY as her U.S. misguided and foolish Republican Indo-American counterparts; she’s scheduled to get a rude awakening when the Trump leopard eats her face. It’s not a matter of if but when this happens.
A Pattern of Regional Sabotage
Moreover, Persad-Bissessar’s attack wasn’t isolated. This marks her second full-throated scurrilous assault on CARICOM in months, following a December rant that already strained ties.
At the St. Kitts summit, hosted by Dr. Terrance Drew to celebrate the bloc’s Golden anniversary, she mocked the organisation’s “silence” on Trinidad’s security woes, labeled Venezuela a “narco-dictatorship,” and questioned Cuba’s role – echoing Donald Trump’s hemispheric hawkishness.
Her praise for U.S. naval strikes near Venezuelan waters, which – without presenting a shred of evidence or proof – she credits for slashing Trinidad’s crime, positions T&T as Washington’s forward base, not a CARICOM teammate.
Such rhetoric undermines the “zone of peace” doctrine that has defined the region since 1973, when Trinidad co-authored the Treaty of Chaguaramas.
Trust evaporates when a leader weaponises shared forums against kin. Persad-Bissessar didn’t propose fixes for CARICOM’s challenges – like sluggish CSME implementation or free movement hurdles. Instead, she sowed division, warning neighbours like Antigua against “bad-mouthing” the U.S. obliquely suggesting that independent Antigua and Barbuda follow her and bow down, kiss the Trump ring and brown-nose as policy. All for being good slaves for bilateral perks.
This isn’t leadership; it’s freelance diplomacy that invites external meddling, fracturing the unified front needed against climate crises, trade barriers, and reparations battles.
Domestic Politics Trump Regional Duty
Her motives are transparently parochial. Elected in 2025 amid crime spikes and economic woes, Persad-Bissessar plays to a domestic audience hungry for strongman/woman optics.
Aligning with Trump’s America—hosting radar bases, joint patrols – burnishes her “tough on gangs” image, even as it risks trade retaliation or U.S. overreach. But CARICOM partners see through it: Trinidad’s ports and refineries thrive on regional energy pacts, not unilateral chest-thumping.
By insulting the bloc publicly, she erodes the goodwill that buffered T&T through oil busts and hurricanes.
Her stance is foolishly myopic given that should Democrats win the mid-term elections this year Donald Trump will be a lame-duck President isolating Trinidad because Democrats in both houses of Congress will see her as a political enemy that will lead to further distrust.
Outgoing Chair Andrew Holness and Secretary-General Carla Barnett urged unity on Haiti, aviation, and reparations. Persad-Bissessar’s response? Defiance, declaring T&T unbound by “political ideologies” of others. This isolates Trinidad, as smaller states band together without her.
CARICOM cannot – and should not – trust her. Her speech proves reliability hinges on convenience, not conviction. The Caribbean’s survival demands cohesion against great powers; Persad-Bissessar offers fracture.
Leaders must sideline her provocations, fast-track decisions without T&T’s veto, and recalibrate ties – perhaps limiting sensitive intel-sharing or joint ventures.
For a region born from colonial rupture, trusting a “Trumpian” outlier invites the very dependency she celebrates. CARICOM’s future lies in resilience without her.
Michael Roberts is a Grenadian journalist living and working in New York City. He is a veteran communications and political strategist with over 35 years of experience