Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has questioned CARICOM’s capacity to effectively coordinate a unified foreign policy, arguing that the regional bloc cannot even agree on the basic definition of a “zone of peace.”
Speaking during the University of the West Indies (UWI) Vice Chancellor’s Forum on October 21, Gonsalves criticized Trinidad and Tobago’s stance on the concept, calling it a “misguided notion” that requires urgent reconsideration.
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The hybrid forum — Promises, Passports and Possibilities: Free Movement, the CSME and the Caribbean Regionalization Project — was streamed live on UWI TV and attended both in person and online.
Gonsalves explained that a “zone of peace” under international law requires state actors to refrain from intervention or the threat of force against one another. It does not, he stressed, offer protections to criminal networks such as drug traffickers, arms smugglers, and human traffickers.
His comments followed those of Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who told the 80th United Nations General Assembly on September 26 that growing transnational crime means the Caribbean can no longer be described as peaceful.
“The reality is stark – no such peace exists today,” Persad-Bissessar said.
Gonsalves argued that CARICOM’s lack of clarity was visible in its uneven responses to mounting tensions between the United States and Venezuela. Any foreign-led regime change effort in Caracas, he warned, would have dire consequences for the wider region, triggering mass migration and new security threats.
“When there is war or conflict, it is not only good people who flee, but bad actors also — people who exploit the chaos,” he said.
Drawing parallels to Europe’s ongoing migration crisis, he cautioned that Venezuelan arrivals could rapidly transform current pressures on Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent, and Guyana into a full-scale humanitarian emergency.
“We are in difficult and troubling times. We need calm, patience and maturity in our judgments,” he urged. “We must return to first principles and approach these matters as practical statesmen and stateswomen.”
Integration, trade, and free movement concerns
Turning back to the forum’s primary theme, Gonsalves underscored the essential role of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in its original jurisdiction as the supreme authority for interpreting CARICOM law — a foundation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).
He reiterated that freedom of movement must come with a “bundle of contingent rights” such as healthcare and education access. St. Vincent and the Grenadines, he noted, already provides these services to migrants and has exceeded minimum treaty obligations.
Despite this, deeper rights have only been partially implemented alongside the October 1 launch of full free movement among Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines — a situation he said undermines regional integration goals.
Countries limiting movement, he argued, are ignoring region-wide shortages in labour and expertise.
Gonsalves acknowledged concerns from Antigua and Barbuda, where non-nationals make up nearly half the population, calling the hesitation “understandable” but still a hurdle to unification.
Trade tensions with Trinidad and Tobago
Gonsalves also criticized persistent barriers to regional trade, foreign exchange access, and payment settlements — particularly with Trinidad and Tobago.
St. Vincent imports over US$80 million in goods annually from Trinidad, yet its agricultural exports to the twin-island state have fallen from US$20 million to under US$4 million.
“We are expected to accept TT dollars, which are useless to us unless we spend them back in Trinidad. It’s a nightmare.”
He questioned why foreign exchange is readily available for luxury imports or high-priced entertainers, but not for regional produce.
“There’s no foreign exchange for yams, dasheen, or sweet potatoes. But you can get it for Camembert cheese or to pay Vybz Kartel US$900,000 to perform. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Energy cost disparities — with Trinidad and Tobago benefiting from cheaper domestic fuel — and insufficient contributions to the Caricom Development Fund were also raised as major inequities.
Regional airspace and sovereignty
Another sticking point is operational control of the Piarco Flight Information Region (FIR), spanning from Port of Spain to St. Kitts, for which Trinidad and Tobago collects all revenue.
“That airspace is our collective property. We need to address that properly,” Gonsalves said, citing a lack of representation in its governance.
A warning for the future
Gonsalves concluded that if long-standing issues remain unresolved, regional tensions will deepen and CARICOM’s integration project will continue to falter.
“We are in troubling times, and unless we deal with these matters properly, our challenges — economic and security — will only grow.”
