$20 M CARICOM CONFERENCE WASTE

WHILE Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry took part in Caricom’s 50th-anniversary celebrations, the international media was describing his country as “a paradise of criminal gangs.”

Vigilante groups and gangsters were squaring off in ghettos and residential areas in and around Port-au-Prince, and an alarmed United Nations agency said children are now being targeted.

Crime in Haiti has more than doubled this year, CNN and other news agencies report, with an unceasing stream of murders, kidnappings, lynchings, and robberies.

It is estimated that so far in 2023 there have been more than 4,000 bloody crimes, including 1,200 gory murders.

Henry, who was not elected, donned his best business suit and attended the Caricom parley in Port of Spain as if he is the leader of a typical regional state addressing common everyday challenges.

The United Nations has been dutifully alerting the world to the raging security and humanitarian crisis, with about half of the population of 5.2 million on the run for their lives, with little to eat.

Caricom, including T&T’s voluble Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, has been pontificating on the catastrophe – and doing precisely nothing.

Rowley and his counterparts have not put pressure on the United States, Latin America, and other countries to send peacekeepers, to bolster the under-resourced police service, and to feed starving citizens.

Caricom bosses have virtually folded their arms while rampaging gangsters terrorise Haiti, through cold-blooded murders, dreadful sexual assaults, and other vicious crimes.

Heavily-armed hoodlums habitually block roads, and seal off ports, police stations, court houses, and prisons, preventing orderly governance, and the transportation of food, while facilitating the drug trade.

And yet, Caricom, of which Haiti is a full-fledged member, has been content with just cursory public statements.

In fact, only the UN has been leading from the front, with Secretary General Antonio Guterres repeating last week that “every day counts” and that “a robust international force” should be deployed.

“Generations of Haitians are at risk,” Guterres reiterated.

The indifference of regional leaders to the Haitian crisis illustrates Caricom’s impotence in improving the quality of lives of its citizens in its five decades of existence.

It also recalls the regional apathy as Guyanese despot Forbes Burnham inflicted mongoose gangs on political opponents a generation ago.

The lethargy toward the disaster in Haiti is aside from the crime plague in virtually every territory, with T&T heading for another record murder count.

A talk-shop in Port of Spain in April – which set back local taxpayers $3.4 million – was a wasted exercise, with mere showboating by bungling leaders.

Security aside, the region is as dependent on international food supplies as it was in July 1973 when the Caricom pact was signed, amid much optimism.

There have been no measurable moves to become food sufficient, with T&T alone bringing in almost US $6 million a year even with depleted foreign exchange.

Poverty, malnutrition, and inadequate housing are rampant in these vulnerable societies.

The fragile tourism sector remains the mainstay of many economies, with still no efforts at diversification after the crippling impact of the Covid-19 shutdown.

In fact, several Caricom countries still earn their keep only through sun, sea and sand, with little zeal to boost the creative, manufacturing, agro-processing, and other sectors.

The lack of progress of the University of the West Indies, and the collapse of the regional cricket team exemplify a stagnated, unproductive area.

Our leaders resort to hackneyed statements, while the rest of the world power through with new technologies, evolving industries, and researched solutions to their challenges.

While artificial intelligence is impacting modern life, Caricom people must still contend with a decrepit, inefficient, and costly regional airline.

The Caricom conference cost T&T’s taxpayers $20 million and produced a predictably worthless statement from blundering and ill-equipped leaders.

The Caribbean’s unrelenting woes – including Haitian killings – are starkly urgent, with no purposeful attempts at solutions during the lofty talks.

Another 50 years of such disastrous leadership?