Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council of Ministers of National Security Dr Errol Cort says the decision by Britain to pull-out of its warships from the region could be detrimental to the Caribbean’s fight against the illegal drug trade.
Cort, who is also Antigua and Barbuda Minister of National Security, said he would be engaging British government to ask them to reconsider the decision.
“I would want to engage the British to share with them certain confidential information that we have pertaining to the maritime issues and to impress upon them that pulling out at this point could be and would be highly detrimental to the region,” Cort said in an interview on local radio.
Cort said that if Britain refuses to change its position then CARICOM countries would have to approach the United States and the French to increase their monitoring of the region.
“If we are not able to persuade them in terms of them agreeing not to pull out then we would certainly have to look at other alternatives. We would certainly have to look at the United States to see if at all possible they are able to increase their surveillances in our Caribbean waters,” he said.
“We would also wish to talk to the French because as you know they too have a presence and we have excellent working relationships with the French in terms of security issues. So we would definitely need to look at alternatives but I’m hopeful that we might be able to get the Brits not to proceed with their plans of pulling out their warships.”
Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported on Monday that “Britain is to abandon its warship patrols of the Caribbean for the first time since the Second World War because of the navy’s funding crisis.”
A Ministry of Defense spokesman said “the Royal Navy will continue to provide a permanent presence in the Caribbean, able to respond to the full range of potential events including humanitarian disaster relief operations. (CMC)