With the fig leaf endorsed by the OECS, the U.S. invasion of Grenada boosted Reagan’s popularity ahead of the 1984 U.S. presidential election.įast-forward 35 years, and the same scenario repeats itself: Less than two years ahead of a second-term presidential bid, Trump is also in dire need to pay a political dividend to increase his electoral stock ahead of the 2020 run.īut, since not all CARICOM members-states will, today, 'dance with Washington,' the Mar-a-Lago invitation list has been limited only to those willing to sing along. The agenda of the Mar-a-Lago meeting was not disclosed in advance, but the sudden summoning of the hand-picked quintet recalls to memory a similar division of the Caribbean’s leadership ahead of the U.S.-led invasion of Grenada in 1983.īack then, with some CARICOM member-states clearly supporting Maurice Bishop’s revolutionary government in Grenada, Washington opted to canvas the support of the smaller, conservative-led six-member Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).Īs a result, then -chairman of the OECS, Dominica’s Dame Eugenia ‘Iron Lady’ Charles, and OECS Director General Dr. Vaughan Lewis stood beside President Ronald Reagan when he announced to the world, on October 25, 1983, that U.S. troops were invading Grenada. However, the CARICOM chairman – whose country abstained from the January vote – was not invited to Trump’s Florida parley. Trump Admin Wants $500M to Fund Its Intervention in Venezuelaīut it’s widely speculated that much of the discussions will be centered on Venezuela, at the moment Trump’s primary political, economic and security foreign policy agenda item.įour of the five invited Caribbean states are among the Latin American and Caribbean nations that voted, in January, in favor of a U.S.-backed resolution at the Organization of American States (OAS) to not recognize the elected Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro.ĬARICOM has, since last year, been promoting a common foreign policy approach to Venezuela and leading efforts to foster dialogue and a peaceful settlement to Venezuela's current climate more than once engaging with the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General in that regard.ĬARICOM Chairman, Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris, has been leading the regional group’s charge to have external actors respect the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace. The leaders invited to Washington are from the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Saint Lucia, and according to the official statement they and their host will discuss “trade, energy and security issues.” The White House suddenly announced, only two days before, that US President Donald Trump had invited five Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday, March 22.
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