Saint Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago — The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is grappling with a protracted period of regional tensions, tied to the new normal in international politics.
In some respects, this moment is the blocâs toughest test yet. At a time when the unity of CARICOM is under growing strain, marked by a discernible shift in respect of interactional norms and diplomatic coherence pertaining to the foreign policy realm, St.
Kitts and Nevis took up the mantle of Chair of the bloc.  Arguably, the impacts of that strain on the regional grouping have had a profound effect on how Prime Minister of St.
Kitts and Nevis Terrance Drew has approached his leadership role in CARICOM â on behalf of his country. Drew is the Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM â for a six-month term that got underway this past January.
As the blocâs constituent treaty notes: âThe Conference shall be the supreme Organ of the Community.â In this framing, regional priorities are the rotating chairmanshipâs main focus. Perhaps most consequentially, Drew is discharging his regional leadership responsibilities at a juncture when CARICOM member states are facing up to emergent geopolitical dynamics that have driven a wedge between them. A wide (foreign policy) gap   CARICOM member statesâ duelling perspectives on the high-stakes âTrump Corollaryâ to the Monroe Doctrine became a consequential, foreign policy-related sticking point that placed the bloc in a months-long diplomatic rut.
This situation has weighed down the regional grouping, making its membersâ efforts to cohesively contend with an international order that is undergoing a seismic change that much more difficult.
(The international system last experienced change on such a scale at the Cold Warâs end, which also precipitated the demise of bipolarity and ushered in the now erstwhile unipolar moment.) While most CARICOM member states have responded to that Doctrine with suspicion and trepidation, some have offered full-throated support.
The former subset of member states are standing their ground in respect of long-established CARICOM foreign policy-related principles, which hinge on the shared desire of such small states to respect processes of international cooperation and multilateralism. In contrast, Trinidad and Tobago has controversially thrown its support behind Washington in respect of the spiralling U.S.-Israeli war with Iran â which has been quelled by a tenuous cease-fire for now.
Instructively, early on in that conflict, Barbados called for ârestraint as Middle East tensions intensify.â United Nations (UN) Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres has raised serious concerns about the conflict, too, as have many other stakeholders.
Of note, legal experts have been sounding the alarm about what has transpired in the Middle East. At the core of such concerns are breaches of the UN Charter â a document whose normative and legal standards are the traditional bedrock of the conduct of CARICOM member statesâ international relations as small states.
This is precisely why breaches of this Charter endanger these states in respect of the anarchic international system. Few dynamics in this system undercut the UN Charter more than great powers behaving as if they have a license to do what they want without fear of the consequences.
This is why the U.S.
military campaign that, according to the U.S.
administration, sought to target illegal drug trafficking in the Caribbean by going after alleged ânarco-traffickingâ boats raised so many eyebrows within the CARICOM fold.
(All along, of course, Venezuelaâs Maduro regime was in Washingtonâs crosshairs.) US Air Force special missions aviators display a US flag on a helicopter flying over the Caribbean Sea near Puerto Rico, Jan.
23, 2026.
Image credit: U.S.
Southern Command via X.
Trinidad and Tobago did not share those concerns, unequivocally supporting the U.S.
military action that laid the groundwork for and resulted in the capture of Venezuelaâs NicolĂĄs Maduro.
The U.S.
administration has rewarded Port-of-Spain for its foreign policy positioning, deepening security cooperation.
This was a priority area of the most recent bilateral engagement between Trinidad and Tobagoâs Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio â convened on the margins of the Fiftieth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM. What also stands out is Trinidad and Tobagoâs inclusion in the Shield of the Americas initiative.
Indeed, Port-of-Spain is over the moon with its participation in the recently held Shield of the Americas summit.
Guyana is the only other CARICOM member state that the U.S.
has included in this high-profile initiative.
With the two camps of CARICOM member states being far apart on key demands of the U.S., the status quo has fuelled mutual mistrust among members of the now five-plus-decade old grouping.
It did not help that Washington operationalized the aforesaid Doctrine in invasive, heavy-handed security and foreign policy-related terms. It is also the case that regional politics have focused intently on seeing the way forward, amidst widespread dissatisfaction with this difficult situation.
Notably, upon the start of his term as CARICOM Chair, Drew sought to shift the situation in a positive direction.
With an eye to preparing the ground for the success of the Fiftieth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, held under his chairmanship this past February, he piloted âa series of high-level engagements with regional leaders.â Drewâs intent was to build goodwill among his fellow regional leaders, with a view to creating the conditions for them to all gather at this summit.
In effect, those high-profile, face-to-face bilateral meetings held the promise of building âtrustâ and âshared purposeâ in respect of the regionâs leaders.
He said as much. Beyond ensuring that all CARICOM membersâ respective leaders were at âthe (summit) tableâ, Drew was also committed to having them primed for a productive exchange on key issues on the regional agenda.
Drew got his wish â at least in part.
All his regional counterparts took part in the said summit; although, leaders of three of the blocâs 14 sovereign member states departed early.
Consequently, closed-door deliberations that took the form of the leadersâ Retreat did not benefit from a full house. The Retreat was a key component of the summitâs proceedings.
This one-day, all-important session partly focused on geopolitical developments. CARICOM member states did close ranks on some of the issues arising, which include Cuba policy.
Their respective long-standing and wide-ranging bilateral relations with the Communist island have emerged as a diplomatic pressure point.
In fact, several hold outs in the CARICOM fold have little choice but to accept Washingtonâs foreign policy line on how they should treat Havana vis-Ă -vis facets of those relations. One day prior to that leadersâ Retreat, and as part of the summitâs proceedings, Rubio met in-person with CARICOM leaders.
One important take away from these talks is that they resulted in an agreement on a contemporary Cooperation Framework, which is now earnestly in the works. These developments had a direct bearing on regional leadersâ subsequent consideration of geopolitical developments â a priority matter at the summit â warranting the issuance of the âJoint Statement on CARICOMâs Engagement with Secretary Rubioâ.
The pre-eminence of the âsovereignty narrativeâ Signals emanating from the summit in question also called attention to the limits of CARICOM-based regionalism, with member states reaffirming their pragmatic approach to integration. It is important to note that, with a nod to the Rose Hall Declaration on âRegional Governance and Integrated Developmentâ, Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness drove this point home at the formal start of that very summit.
Regarding regional governance, the so-called Rose Hall Declaration states (in part): âThe reaffirmation that CARICOM is a Community of Sovereign States, and of Territories able and willing to exercise the rights and assume the obligations of membership of the Community, and that the deepening of regional integration will proceed in this political and juridical context.â Put differently, and as Terri-Ann Gilbert-Roberts notes in a 2013 scholarly work, there is a âstrong aversion among political elites to delegating authority to supranational institutions â a legacy of the Federal Experiment.â Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness addresses the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM.
Image credit: Office of the Prime Minister of Jamaica.
In his address to the Opening Ceremony of the summit under reference, Holness underscored the following: âFor decades, an idealised narrative around Caribbean integration, while well-intentioned, has framed perhaps unrealistic expectations within our respective populations.
It has also perhaps unintentionally diminished the genuine strengths of our existing arrangement, an association of independent states bound not by uniformity, but by shared purpose, mutual regard, and a deep history of collaboration.â Yet it is equally important to recognize the tremendous achievements of a cohesively functioning CARICOM, as advanced (in large part) by regional summitry.
Such summitry has long played a key role in member statesâ broader efforts to coordinate with each other and partners, enabling dialogue that has paid off in spades over several decades.
Meetings of this kind are crucial for strengthening bilateral and multilateral ties and contributing to diplomatic solutions, now more than ever. Holness himself seemed to signal as much, conveying the following perspective at the opening of the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM: âWe meet at a time when the speed of global change is outpacing the speed of regional coordination.â This summit, per its communiquĂ©, represents an important win for St.
Kitts and Nevis and CARICOM as a whole. Unity hopes suffer another blow Yet what brought opportunity for coordination at a time of sharp tensions that are the cause of a foreign policy-related rift in CARICOM has also created yet another point of contention: The much-publicized controversy that has arisen surrounding the reappointment of the Secretary-General of CARICOM during the leadersâ Retreat. This controversy has been brewing ever since Drewâs initial statement â issued on March 25th â regarding the reappointment of incumbent Secretary-General of CARICOM Carla Barnett for a second term of office beginning in August 2026.
The impasse runs deeper than procedural concerns over the reappointment of the Secretary-General and attendant matters, with CARICOMâs governance and operations having also come under the spotlight. The headlines create the impression that there is little sign yet that a resolution is imminent. The parties out-front on the matter have apparently doubled down on their respective positions, which have only hardened.
In this regard, the latest missives (as of this writing) penned by Trinidad and Tobago Foreign Minister Sean Sobers (dated April 9th) and Drew (dated April 11th), respectively, come to mind.
Although dispatched via diplomatic channels, the correspondence in question is now in the public domain. While some political leaders are clashing publicly, others in the CARICOM fold are walking a tightrope on this issue. High-level diplomatic efforts to see a way forward on what has become a significant bone of contention â with the potential to stymie CARICOM regionalism â will no doubt continue.
Opening Ceremony of the 50th Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, St Kitts and Nevis.
Image credit: CARICOM via Flickr Rising to the challenge And yet, CARICOM has not a moment to lose in effectively marshalling member states to contend with the resurgence of great-power politics.
This spheres of influence-related development carries serious risks, which undercut a cornerstone of the postwar international order: multilateral cooperation. These dynamics of contemporary international politics continue to turn the screws on CARICOM â and fast. We are already seeing a key consequence of this turn of events: A new reality now shapes CARICOM diplomacy â already under strain from the aforementioned foreign policy-related rift in the bloc. In short, the shift within the grouping in respect of interactional norms and diplomatic coherence pertaining to the foreign policy realm exposes seemingly deep divisions in relation to worldviews. History shows that such moments do not augur well for the bloc.
One could draw a historical parallel with the U.S.
invasion of Grenada in 1983, which stoked tensions within and had far-reaching impacts on the region. Clearly, key foreign policy-related setbacks within todayâs CARICOM fit a longer pattern.
Even so, their ever-widening rifts ought not to become a fixture in the scheme of things either. While there was much-needed discussion at the summit under reference about geopolitical developments, along with a nod to the rationale qua nature of the bloc itself, CARICOM needs to work through how it can better rise to the challenge of navigating the return of great-power politics. In years ahead, the new normal in international politics will likely continue to undermine the UN Charter.
The stakes are high for such small states at this moment, and all concerned need to take a long, hard look at the issues arising.
There is increasing recognition in CARICOM foreign policy circles that, facing rising risks, the bloc needs to get a handle on the current state of affairs. When CARICOM foreign ministers meet next month, they will likely continue to try to work things through. Featured image: 50th Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM.
Photo of CARICOM Leaders with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Image credit: CARICOM The post What is behind growing disunity in the Caribbean Community bloc?
(Opinion) appeared first on Latin America Reports.
