Last Saturday July 4, 2026, marked fifty-three (53) years since the revolutionary leaders of Caribbean integration gathered at Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago to sign the Treaty which established the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
This pioneering act by Prime Ministers Errol Barrow of Barbados, Michael Manley of Jamaica, Forbes Burnham of Guyana, and Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago has earned them a permanent place of reverence and gratitude from the people of the Caribbean.
Based on the treaty, the primary objective of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was to promote economic integration, coordinate foreign policy, and enhance cooperation in areas such as human/social development and security among its member states.
Through CARICOM, member states put measures in place to overcome colonisation, exploitation, and marginalisation and took control of their destiny, by shaping their own policies, principles, and institutions of integration.
These CARICOM leaders were concerned about the economic and social development of the region and the security and prosperity of their people and have relentlessly pursued its development goals by engaging in positive and principled development discourse with the international community.
They have also been advocating and helping to shape public opinion and policy worldwide, and even changing the trajectory of history to secure justice, equality, fairness and freedom.
When the polarised world was proceeding to unjustly isolate Cuba, it was the founding fathers of CARICOM who stood up and took a principled and non-aligned position, recognising Cuba as a Caribbean sister nation.
On that occasion, it was then Barbados Prime Minister, Errol Barrow, who captured the conscience of the world with the statement, that we are “friends of all, but satellites of none.”
When the developed world was attempting to legitimise the apartheid white-minority regime in South Africa, CARICOM played a pivotal role at the Commonwealth and in the United Nations to keep that pariah government isolated internationally, paving the way for the black majority to rule in a truly democratic South Africa and ensuring that the illegitimately imprisoned, Nelson Mandela became the legitimate President of South Africa, and arguably one of the greatest leaders in World history.
Recently, regional analysts and media commentators have been frequently debating whether certain CARICOM leaders were sowing division or simply pushing for necessary institutional transparency.
This perspective of deep polarisation has gained significant traction due to unprecedented geopolitical and administrative clashes within the trading bloc.
The primary factors fueling this perception of division among regional leaders included a major rift erupted over the five-year extension granted to CARICOM Secretary-General Dr. Carla Barnett.
While a majority of regional leaders moved ahead with the appointment at a summit in St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago’s leadership vehemently opposed the decision.
Additionally, CARICOM traditionally advocated for the Caribbean to remain a strictly neutral “zone of peace.” However, Trinidadian Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar openly dismissed this consensus as “zone of peace fakery,” publicly breaking rank to back United States military posturing and drug-trafficking countermeasures in the Southern Caribbean.
Disagreement over foreign policy has hampered unified action. While a segment of CARICOM maintained a strict policy of regional sovereignty and provided humanitarian support to Cuba despite U.S. embargoes, others favoured closer, transactional alignment with Washington’s aggressive economic strategies in the region.
Former Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, Dr. Keith Rowley has issued a blistering critique of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, publicly accusing her of being “unpatriotic”, “incompetent”, and actively endangering regional integration.
He warned that her comments risk isolating the country, weakening regional solidarity, and reducing Trinidad and Tobago to a “vassal state” taking instructions from foreign powers.
Current and former CARICOM leaders largely condemned aggressive U.S. foreign policies – particularly embargoes, extraterritorial sanctions, and military buildups – urging that the Caribbean should remain a Zone of Peace.
However, positions vary, with some member states navigating complex energy and economic dependencies that temper their official diplomatic stances.
A coalition of former presidents and prime ministers – including figures from Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago – have taken a strong, unified stance against recent U.S. actions.
These former leaders strongly opposed U.S. policies, such as executive orders placing absolute blockades and tariffs on third-party oil supplies to Cuba. They have described these measures as “economic warfare” and “terrorist economic warfare”, warning that they caused catastrophic humanitarian crises.
These former heads of government expressed deep concern over the increased presence of U.S. military vessels and aircraft in the Caribbean. They argued that these actions threatened regional sovereignty and violated the established status of the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.
While CARICOM officially was championing a united front, differing national interests sometimes diluted action. For instance, energy-producing members like Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago made careful diplomatic navigation due to their deep reliance on Western capital, cross-border gas investments, and U.S. strategic backing.
Other leaders, like Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, have historically broken ranks to support U.S. military actions in the hemisphere to secure national security assistance.
It is interesting to note that the United States celebrated its Semi=quincentennial (250th anniversary) of independence, while CARICOM marked 53 years since the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas on the same day July 4, 2026.
On July 4, 1776, the United States adopted the Declaration of Independence while on July 4, 1973, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago signed the founding treaty of CARICOM. Both milestones intersected perfectly on the same calendar day.
Donald Trump’s stance on Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries focused heavily on asserting U.S. national security, restricting regional immigration, and dismantling Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programmes.
His administration prioritised bilateral pressure over multilateral cooperation, creating a deep strain across the 15-member regional bloc. The administration placed partial travel bans on CARICOM nations Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica.
The U.S. suspended most tourist, student, and immigrant visas, citing security vulnerabilities created by their “Citizenship by Investment” programmes.
The U.S. introduced a 1% tax on all cash-based international remittances. This heavily penalised CARICOM nations reliant on diaspora funding, particularly impacting Jamaica, which received billions annually from the U.S.
Trump explicitly warned Caribbean leaders that national sovereignty was “not a protective shield for criminal organisations” and signaled that the U.S. will militarily intervene in nations that failed to eliminate narco-trafficking.
U.S. military actions in Venezuela and strict economic blockades against Cuba have fractured CARICOM’s consensus. While some members (like Trinidad and Tobago) have aligned with Trump’s security agenda, others (like Guyana) navigated a quieter diplomacy, and the bloc officially tried to maintain an increasingly fragile strategic neutrality.
Nevertheless, under Operation Southern Spear (launched in September 2025), the U.S. military began conducting kinetic airstrikes against small vessels and semi-submersibles in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific.
The administration designated these operators as “narcoterrorists”—specifically targeting groups like Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua – and claims the actions were part of an active armed conflict to halt fentanyl trafficking. Over 200 people have been killed in more than 60 strikes.
In December 2025, President Trump ordered a “quarantine” and naval blockade targeting all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela and Cuba.
By cutting off third-party oil supplies, this blockade has paralysed Cuba’s energy infrastructure, causing severe humanitarian crises, hyperinflation, and rolling blackouts across the island.
It was this dual strategy of direct military strikes on regional boats and the economic strangulation of maritime trade routes that prompted the coalition of former CARICOM leaders to condemn U.S. policy as “terrorist economic warfare”
Over the past years, several prominent calypsonians have championed Caribbean integration and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) through their music.
Notable examples included David Rudder (Trinidad and Tobago), who received the Order of the Caribbean Community, Black Stalin (Trinidad and Tobago), who won the 1979 Calypso Monarch with “Caribbean Unity”, and King Konris (St. Kitts and Nevis), who notably performed his regional unity song “One Song” at CARICOM events.
“Make CARICOM Work” by Sir Don of Antigua was a song making a direct plea to regional leaders, which addressed the functional frustrations of the trade and political block.
He used his lyrics to caution territories against dropping out of CARICOM like they did with the historical West Indies Federation, and begging leaders to “concentrate as one family”.
The calypso “Caribbean Unity” by Black Stalin was a classic track which expanded on his vision of regional integration. Stalin critiqued the superficiality of political declarations and highlighted the deep, existing cultural bonds shared by the ordinary people of the islands.
The calypso named “Federation” by the Mighty Sparrow was an iconic 1962 track written immediately following the collapse of the West Indies Federation. It acts as a historical record of public heartbreak and frustration after Jamaica and Trinidad pulled out of the early integration movement.
In 1987, Dr. Hollis Liverpool (better known by his calypso sobriquet, The Mighty Chalkdust), a legendary Trinidadian calypsonian, educator, and historian sang a calypso called, “Them People Laughing At We,” which was a biting piece of social and political commentary exploring how Black and Caribbean people sometimes unwittingly make themselves the butt of jokes for others.
Chalkdust traced the roots of this behaviour back to slavery, where white slave owners used to laugh at Black people, and some enslaved individuals would dress up and dance to entertain the whites.
He argued that even though slavery was over, some Black people were still providing people of other races with jokes through their actions, such as blindly fawning over foreign (often white) figures.
The ongoing 2026 CARICOM conflicts have left the regional body highly fractured, with public mudslinging and procedural disputes threatening to turn serious integration efforts into a political spectacle with “Them People Laughing at We.”
FOOD FOR THOUGHT!!!
Simeon Collins is a former Director of the Grenada Bureau of Standards and first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA), a CARICOM Institution