Caricom is definitely at a crossroads – time for a serious discourse

Venezuela’s interim President, Delcy Rodriguez, is on a tour of Caricom. She visited Grenada a few weeks ago and now she has visited Barbados this week. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with the visits. But Ruminations believes that Delcy Rodriguez is using these Caricom visits to continue Maduro’s aggressive assault on Guyana. In the process, unwittingly, we believe, Caricom sister nations are aiding and abetting Delcy’s illegal war that she is waging against Guyana. Delcy’s wearing a brooch with a map which includes two-thirds of Guyana’s territory as part of Venezuela.
Let us call a spade a spade. Either Caricom Member States are with Guyana or they are against Guyana. When it comes to our country and our territory, there should be no hesitation in standing up for Guyana. Caricom have repeatedly asserted that they support Guyana against the illegal threats by Venezuela in their claims to our territory. But action speaks louder than words. At least two Member States have allowed the Venezuelan interim President to make state visits, which she has used to further her and Venezuela’s assault on Guyana.
My question to the prime ministers of Grenada and Barbados is when Delcy stood before you with an official Venezuelan lapel brooch showing two-thirds of Guyana as part of Venezuela, did you accept her as President of the country she was standing up in front of you insisting that she represents? That country does not exist. Delcy was standing there in front of two powerful Caricom leaders boldly, loudly, aggressively and illegally boasting of annexing two-thirds of Guyana, a lead Caricom country.
These latest attacks on Guyana’s territorial integrity come at a time when the International Court of Justice is about to hear oral submissions by Guyana and Venezuela on May 4, 2026, in the Hague. Delcy’s visits anticipate these hearings. Guyana, with the support of Caricom and most of the world, has asked the ICJ to intervene and put the controversy to rest. Guyana has chosen the mature, legal, peaceful way to manage a useless controversy. As far as Guyana is concerned, the border between Guyana and Venezuela is a settled matter, settled since 1899. We do not recognise any claim to our territory since the borders were settled and all parties accepted the settlement in 1899.
Venezuela has consistently refused to declare its willingness to accept the ruling of the ICJ. For Delcy to continue Maduro’s overt war against Guyana and use our allies and Caricom Member States to aid and abet her is an insult to all of us and to the ICJ. By Caricom Member States entertaining her and pledging friendship and strengthening their alliance, it is also an insult to the ICJ. To be clear, Ruminations believes that all of us should try to integrate Venezuela into a regional solidarity and for Venezuela to become a nation that is working with others to better the lives of our people. But it is Venezuela that is the main threat to the peace our region is known for. The “Zone of Peace” that characterises the region was threatened by Maduro and Venezuela when they militarily threatened Guyana. Now Delcy, with a more sophisticated belligerence, is continuing the threat against the “Zone of Peace”, and Barbados and Grenada have so far, unwittingly, we believe, provided support for Delcy’s illegal threats and attacks on Guyana.
Guyana has had to deal with Venezuela’s illegal threats and attacks throughout our independence. We are on the precipice of our 60th Independence Anniversary, and Caricom members will provide the usual good wishes and congratulations to Guyana. But as we celebrate our 60th anniversary, Venezuela’s threats have become more and more belligerent. Will Barbados and Grenada and the other Caricom members stand with Guyana and recognise unconditionally Guyana’s borders? This will mean telling Delcy that she insulted Caricom by prominently displaying her lapel brooch that included Guyana’s territory as part of Venezuela.
Caricom members are showing poor judgement in how they are allowing Delcy to control the narrative and using them to push her attacks on Guyana. This is at a time when Caricom is more divided than it has ever been. The dispute with the reappointment of the Secretary General has placed a wedge in Caricom’s unity. Trinidad and Tobago is not budging. Now Jamaica is insisting on a do-over for the reappointment. At the international level, Caricom now rarely takes a Caricom position. There is a long list of international negotiations for which we do not speak as one. Caricom’s strength cannot be measured by us speaking as one every single time. But the number of issues for which we have different positions is alarming.
How we deal with the US is a case in point. How we deal with Cuba is another. In the case of Venezuela, that country is militarily threatening another Caricom country. In fact, it has by its own illegal laws annexed two-thirds of Guyana. This should not be one of the issues that divide us. We should speak with one voice in rejecting Venezuela’s military attack, its illegal annexation of Guyana’s territory and its public imagery of annexing Guyana’s territory being endorsed by Caricom’s leaders.
The SG dispute is perhaps the height of attention for the division in Caricom. But the truth is that the SG dispute is merely a symptom of deep divisions within Caricom. The fact that more than 50 years after Caricom’s establishment, free trade among Caricom nations is still a dream is a stark reminder that we have never really been as united as we tout. President Irfaan Ali has had to visit Trinidad recently and urged that we remove the non-tariff barriers that limit trade between our countries. The truth, the whole truth, is that non-tariff barriers have been used to limit Guyana’s export of goods to other Caricom states.
The time has come for a recommitment to Caricom among Member States.