DISAPPOINTING – though not surprising – as it may be, the communiqué issued on last week’s three-day CARICOM Heads of Government Conference offers precious little on new initiatives to advance progress towards what remains an elusive goal – the realization of a CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) after 15 years and counting.
In this column last Wednesday, I had asked, tongue-in-cheek, whether the 36th annual summit being hosted and chaired by the Barbados Government, would be ready to inform the region’s people on the specific new initiatives being pursued to advance inauguration of the CSME.
Well, the short answer, after a reading of the 23-page communiqué officially released on Sunday, is “no”.
The communique did not offer anything new of significance on CSME progress. However, there is no need to be harsh on the participating leaders, ministers and key advisers.
Intense consultation
For one thing, the rounds of actual working meetings were more over two, rather than three days and filled with a range of developing political and diplomatic issues that required intense consultation.
The best known of such consultations pertained to the still raging controversy over Venezuela’s recent surprising “presidential decree” that unilaterally annexed territorial waters demarcated as belonging to Guyana in the Atlantic Ocean.
It involves an area reputedly rich in petroleum resources and claimed by the government of President Nicolas Maduro as located within Venezuela’s economic zone – a contention firmly dismissed by Guyana and firmly supported by CARICOM.
Though originally expected for at least the opening session of the summit and subsequent private talks, President Maduro sent his vice-president and foreign minister. Host Prime Minister and chairman, Freundel Stuart, had also structured dialogues with Guyana’s new President David Granger, who headed his country’s delegation to his first CARICOM summit.
Given CARICOM’s known documented support to Guyana in its old, pre-Independence territorial dispute with successive Venezuelan administrations in Caracas, there were no surprises to the 15-member community’s reaffirmation of commitment and without seeking any political quid pro quos.
External powers
Nevertheless, some leading delegates, who prefer anonymity for now, noted that CARICOM, as a bloc of countries with historical friendly relations also with Venezuela, could not ignore the implications of “external powers with significant political clout” undermining that nation’s sovereignty by various and continuing manoeuvres to “undermine the democratically elected government of President Maduro . . .”.
Now it is felt by some CARICOM leaders and officials that given CARICOM’s commitment to a peaceful resolution to the latest territorial conflict between Guyana and Venezuela, it may be “quite useful” for an identified CARICOM representative, or two, to also be involved in scheduled “peace” talks in Georgetown or Caracas, if not in both capitals, providing the two involved governments concur.
The latest development from Caracas was an announcement by President Maduro Tuesday night to immediately recall his ambassador to Guyana, Margarita Arratia Diaz, and reduce the size of his country’s embassy there.
In his statement to parliament, President Maduro also accused the Guyana government of pursuing a policy of “hatred and aggression” against Venezuela. This accusation would undoubtedly be strongly rejected by Guyana as reflecting “undeserved political hostility”, according to one senior diplomat.
•Rickey Singh is a noted Caribbean journalist.