Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean, North America

POLITICS: Washington Accused of ‘Divide and Rule’ in Caribbean

Peter Richards

PORT OF SPAIN, Sep 23 2003 (IPS) - President George W. Bush’s invitation to meet some Caribbean leaders for a working breakfast Wednesday is being viewed as another of Washington’s attempts to divide and rule the region, as the administration seeks more bilateral agreements to counter opposition to its global policies.

At least six Caribbean leaders will not be at the meeting, lending to suggestions in the region’s media that their exclusion follows from their refusal to sign bilateral agreements with Washington to exempt U.S. nationals from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Jamaica’s Prime Minister PJ Patterson, current chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), has opted out of the talks citing a prior engagement, while outspoken leaders like Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Lester Bird, Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur and Trinidad and Tobago’s Patrick Manning – whose administration is seeking a closer relationship with the Chavez government in Venezuela – are not making the trip to New York.

Those invited to talk include Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo, St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Kenny Anthony, who has lead responsibility for ”governance and justice” within CARICOM, Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie and Grenada’s leader Keith Mitchell..

It has been obvious for “some time” that Community countries hold divergent views on various U.S. policies, Vaughan Lewis, a lecturer at the Institute of International Research of the University of the West Indies (UWI) told IPS.

He recalled that the region had appeared divided on issues of offshore banking raised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) when it was felt that Barbados had broken ranks, even though Bridgetown later denied the allegation.

Another divisive issue was the region’s position on the Iraq war, when some states, notably St. Vincent and the Grenadines, claimed that since some of their nationals might be fighting in Iraq, they would have to show a certain degree of sympathy, says Lewis.

“Next, keen observers would have wondered why Jamaica and St. Lucia, for example, did not ratify the International Criminal Court (ICC) and still have not, leaving its main promoter, Trinidad and Tobago in a sense isolated,” he added.

On Jul. 1, Washington suspended military aid to a number of Caribbean states, including Trinidad and Tobago, for not entering into bilateral agreements to exempt U.S. nationals from the jurisdiction of the ICC, established to try alleged war crimes but which the administration says could be used for ”political” prosecutions against its soldiers and officials.

As of Sep. 4, Washington has signed agreements with 54 countries, according to the non-governmental group Coalition for the ICC. In July, the administration cut military aid to 35 nations that would not sign bilateral deals.

CARICOM has made overtures to Washington to discuss the ICC but the issue remains unresolved. And Manning’s request some months ago to meet Bush to discuss bi-lateral issues has not yet yielded a date.

“Naturally in the new climate of the ‘you are either with us or against us’ policy of the Bush administration, we can expect – and our governments will know how to expect – both sanctions and rewards, whether subtle or overt, and in accordance with their situation in these serious economic ties, (governments) appear willing to risk regional division,” Lewis added.

“There is more to come,” he predicted.

The region has much at stake. Washington has provided considerable financial assistance to the mostly island states, mainly through its Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) under which garment producers, for example, are able to export their products duty-free into the U.S. market.

In addition, Washington has anted up millions of dollars to help the region fight the illegal drugs trade. On Monday, it signed an agreement with Jamaica that provides 50 million dollars (861,000 U.S. dollars) to help that country fight narcotics trafficking.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who is among the regional leaders not meeting Bush on Wednesday, says he does not support the view that his exclusion and that of some of his colleagues is an attempt by Washington to further retaliate for their ICC position.

“You may say there probably has been some clumsy footwork by some people, but I don’t put the malignant spin on it that some people are putting on it,” he told reporters Monday in St. Vincent.

“It appears to me that the persons who have been invited are those who are going to be in New York addressing the United Nations General assembly,” he added.

But Lewis told IPS that it was significant that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, writing in Monday’s edition of the ‘Financial Times’ in the wake of the failed World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Cancun, said “the US will continue its policy of bi-lateralism in negotiating free trade areas”.

“The U.S. has already divided the Caribbean basin initiative sub-region by offering the Central American countries an FTA (free trade agreement) separate from the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA),” Lewis said, noting that Central America backed Washington in its war against Iraq.

“We have to closely examine the implications of this U.S.-Central American FTA for the CARICOM area, as the trade liberalisation process goes on at various levels,” he warned.