WHILE THERE are current widening concerns within the United States of America among both leading Democrats and Republicans over early statements and policy initiatives by President-Elect Donald Trump, there has come a typical “warm” welcome of a draft US-Caribbean Strategic Engagement Act from the Georgetown-based CARICOM Secretariat.
Passage of the bill could well lay the foundation for new and more enlightened co-operation between the United States and the Caribbean region in the vital health sector that’s often plagued with various problems and challenges.
At the same time, it’s relevant to observe that amid recurring sweet rhetoric by changing administrations in Washington, the wider Caribbean region in general continues to suffer from unfulfilled pledges of assistance in critical areas, not just health, housing and education.
Currently, while we await the official inauguration of President Trump next month, there remain serious concerns about his policy on immigration, given his earlier rabid, emotional warnings about immigrants flooding the United States and displacing American citizens in employment, housing and education.
CARICOM Heads of Government are scheduled to hold their first regular inter-sessional meeting next month in Guyana when we should learn, hopefully from current chairman, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, what new policies/initiatives are to be pursued in its relations with the United States under the Trump presidency, and how priorities would likely be determined in cooperation with our traditional hemispheric allies.
Given the implications of already erupted controversies in foreign policy and global security issues as a consequence of provocative initiatives by Trump in some of his cabinet choices, with a strong preference for top billionaires and right-wing ideologues, it may be advisable for our “little economic community” to establish at least a small team of Caribbean experts to help provide guidance for anticipated decisions at next month’s meeting at the CARICOM Secretariat.
With Trump as president of the United States, and rising speculations over “old connections” between him and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin – now accused of decisive involvement in electoral rigging against Hillary Clinton – it is quite evident that our small economic community has to be very much on the alert against being trapped by the widening political skirmishes involving these two heads of state.
Apart from the immediate agenda issue for next month’s inter-sessional meeting in Georgetown, there remain old challenges, such as the perceived overdue need for restructuring management of the Community Secretariat and to indicate to the Community’s citizens a few of the top priorities for implementation action.
Harold Hoyte’s ‘trilogy’
JUST recently while I was still recuperating from illness, there was the launching of Harold Hoyte’s latest book – Unforgettables.
For me that was the completion of a major trilogy to celebrate the journalism profession in Barbados and involving among outstanding contributors, admirable citizens in various professions and social and political activities.
The long-serving Editor-in-Chief of the Nation newspapers, now in retirement, Hoyte has long been recognised as a most accomplished and dedicated journalist of the English-speaking Caribbean.
Honoured with various regional and foreign awards for his impressive journalistic contributions over the years, he has succeeded in maintaining with humility an admirable professional integrity that continues to serve as a referenced example for the benefit of the profession that has made him a household name across his native Barbados and also popular across our Caribbean region.
First of the books comprising Hoyte’s trilogy of major works was his Eyewitness To Order And Disorder; then came his Political Warriors, and now his Unforgettables.
This publication, currently in bookstores, highlights, as the author explains, a collection of inspiring contributions to the Nation newspapers over the years by some of the very outstanding regular commentators. Their “passion”, Hoyte has noted, “made us proud.”
The carefully chosen mix of contributors includes diplomats, politicians, trade unionists, sports, social activists educators, writers, business and religious leaders. “The passion” of these “unforgettable” contributors”, noted Hoyte, “made us proud . . .”
For all his known modesty, Harold Hoyte remains a remarkable doyen of Caribbean journalism.
• Rickey Singh is a noted Caribbean journalist.