Former Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has sharply criticized Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s announcement that Trinidad and Tobago would support the presence of U.S. warships in the Caribbean and allow them access to local soil if Venezuela attacked Guyana.
In a strongly worded Facebook post, Rowley accused Persad-Bissessar of abandoning decades of carefully crafted Caribbean foreign policy and aligning Port of Spain with Washington’s “Monroe Doctrine” strategy.
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“Compare that with what CARICOM did last time the ‘big guns’ — the USA, Canada and Europe — gave [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro eight days to leave and threatened invasion if he did not comply,” Rowley wrote. “Caricom showed leadership.”
Rowley Recalls CARICOM’s Mediation Legacy
Rowley pointed to a series of high-profile diplomatic interventions in 2019, when CARICOM leaders resisted external ultimatums and instead pursued dialogue:
- Unified CARICOM stance: Rejecting unilateral military threats and calling for negotiations.
- UN diplomacy: Rowley, Mia Mottley of Barbados, and Timothy Harris of St. Kitts and Nevis met with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York to press for peaceful dialogue.
- Montevideo Accord: CARICOM partnered with Mexico and Uruguay — with backing from Norway, South Africa, and the African Union — to establish a neutral framework for talks.
- Argyle Accord: Brokered in St. Vincent under Ralph Gonsalves, the agreement brought Maduro and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali face-to-face for the first time.
According to Rowley, this period of “aggressive, frenetic CARICOM leadership” prevented open conflict and ushered in relative stability until the latest escalation, which he blamed on Washington’s decision to deploy nuclear submarines, marines, and missile-equipped vessels under the banner of “counter-narcotics operations.”
“With this legacy in the face of the intractable issues surrounding us, Trinidad and Tobago has now set our decades-old successful foreign policy alight as a beacon to advocates of the Monroe Doctrine,” Rowley warned. “Dr. Eric Williams, Errol Barrow, [Robert] Bradshaw and E.T. Joshua must be awakening from their slumber to try and save what they built.”
Historical Precedent
Back in January 2019, Rowley traveled to New York as part of a CARICOM delegation mandated to reduce tensions in Venezuela. Alongside Harris, Mottley, Secretary-General Irwin LaRocque, and T&T’s UN Ambassador Pennelope Beckles, the group secured assurances that the UN was prepared to help build a “roadmap towards peace and security for Venezuela and the region.”
Days later, CARICOM leaders joined the Montevideo conference convened by Mexico and Uruguay. While opposition leader Juan Guaidó rejected the initiative outright, Rowley insisted that CARICOM’s efforts preserved a diplomatic pathway when war seemed imminent.
Criticism of Persad-Bissessar’s Position
Rowley’s critique gained traction after he shared a widely circulated post by commentator Michael Edmund Dhanny, who condemned the UNC government’s announcement as “the most reckless foreign policy statement we’ve seen in years.”
Dhanny argued that by declaring each CARICOM member free to “speak for themselves,” Trinidad and Tobago effectively dismantled decades of collective diplomacy. He dismissed the government’s attempt to link local crime to foreign warship presence as “lazy politics,” warning that the pledge to allow U.S. forces access to Trinidadian soil if Venezuela moved against Guyana amounted to mortgaging sovereignty without consultation.
In his words, Trinidad and Tobago had “swapped regional solidarity for a pat on the head from Washington.”
