Spotlight: The New Caribbean Basin Identity

▪ 1995

      Traditionally, the English-speaking islands in the Caribbean Sea, the Spanish-speaking countries in Central America and northern South America, and the remnants of the Dutch and French empires in the region have gone their separate political and economic ways. In 1994, however, a "Caribbean Basin" approach to hemispheric and international affairs began to emerge.

      The 13 English-speaking countries had grouped themselves into a Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) to further their trading and economic interests. The Dutch territories had maintained varying relations with The Netherlands, ranging from internal self-government (the Netherlands Antilles) to full independence (Suriname). The French islands had remained a constitutional part of France. Five Central American nations had formed the Central American Common Market (CACM). Venezuela, Colombia, and Mexico, whose Yucatán Peninsula juts into the Caribbean, had organized themselves into the Group of Three.

      There was loose cooperation among most of these countries within the Organization of American States (OAS), but no "Caribbean Basin identity" was apparent until recent months. The discovery of such an identity in 1994 served well the interests of the two main groups. For the Spanish-speaking countries, it strengthened their hand in international affairs to have the well-established democracies of the English-speaking part of the region in their camp. For the Caricom territories, the relationship added considerably to the potential regional market for their goods. It created a trading and economic bloc much larger than Caricom itself, at a time when the world was coalescing into such blocs and membership in one was rapidly becoming mandatory.

      The new Caribbean Basin identity was formalized in Cartagena, Colombia, on July 24 with the signing of an agreement for an Association of Caribbean States (ACS). Caricom (which had taken the initiative in achieving the agreement), the Group of Three, the six Central American countries, the Dominican Republic, Suriname, Haiti, and Cuba all became part of the ACS.

      The laying of the groundwork for the agreement included ministerial meetings between Caricom and Central American nations beginning in 1992, special trade and investment agreements with Venezuela and Colombia and one planned with Mexico, and a summit between the Group of Three presidents and Caricom leaders in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in October 1993.

      The ACS secretariat was located in Port of Spain. This placed a Caricom country at the focal point of the movement and gave the English-speaking states the opportunity to have a major influence within the new bloc.

      The Caribbean Basin approach achieved by the ACS was timely in light of issues facing the region that required a collective response. They included the threat to Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) privileges posed by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) especially after a fourth state, Chile, was admitted in December, the ever simmering question of Cuba, and the crisis in Haiti.

      The CBI, initiated by former U.S. president Ronald Reagan in the wake of the ousting of the Marxist regime in Grenada by U.S. troops in 1983, guaranteed duty-free entry into the U.S. market for such crucial Caribbean Basin exports as garments and textiles. It facilitated a 50% increase in Caribbean exports to the U.S. and helped create thousands of new jobs annually. Although the CBI was extended indefinitely in 1990, Mexico's entry into NAFTA was seen as posing powerful new competition for CBI products in the U.S. market. Jamaica was particularly eager to protect its annual $450 million garment trade with the U.S., on which 28,000 local jobs depended.

      Under pressure from Caribbean Basin countries, the U.S. agreed to an Interim Trade Program (ITP), lasting for three years, during which CBI beneficiaries would continue to enjoy tariff parity with Mexico in the U.S. Mexico's involvement with the ACS ensured its support for the interim measure. Canada, which had its own free-trading arrangements with Caricom, also supported the ITP.

      The Cuban question received new impetus with the advent of a Caribbean Basin viewpoint within the hemisphere. The paramount question, of course, was Cuba's role in the region under vastly changed circumstances. Would Cuba now join in regional initiatives? There were conflicting reports as to whether the U.S. government had attempted to keep Cuba out of the ACS. Caricom's secretary-general, Edwin Carrington, insisted that it had not and also stated that "Cuba is a Caribbean state and has a full right to membership in Caribbean institutions."

      This was not a view with which the U.S. was sympathetic, although most observers believed that a U.S.-Cuban rapprochement was inevitable. Political and public opinion in the Caribbean Basin held to the view that the isolation of Cuba was a relic of "Cold War mentality" and should be abandoned.

      Many English-speaking Caribbean countries became aware of the Cuban problem at a direct level for the first time during the year. Jamaica, The Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands, for example, were all unwilling hosts to Cuban refugees.

      The Caricom-Cuba Mixed Commission, set up in 1993, was expected to hold its first formal meeting before the end of 1994 to advance political and economic relations within the framework of the Caribbean Basin system. The Caribbean Basin countries let it be known that while they would continue to press the U.S. to end its embargo of Cuba, they also expected Cuba to "take steps" toward "political liberalization" in the same way that it had tentatively begun to introduce some small market reforms.

      The other point of divisiveness was Haiti and the U.S. plan to reinstate democracy, by force if need be. While the Caribbean Basin nations disagreed with the U.S. over Cuba and some voiced objections to plans to invade Haiti, they ultimately supported the U.S. position on Haiti and participated in postinvasion peacekeeping and rehabilitation activities. Even the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL), traditionally a critic of U.S. government policy in the region, agreed that "the circumstances in Haiti made the use of force legitimate." Caricom countries sent more than 300 soldiers and scores of policemen to Haiti. The Caricom troops were the first non-U.S. soldiers to arrive.

      U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher praised the role played by the Caricom countries in helping restore to power Haitian Pres. Jean-Bertrand Aristide. (See BIOGRAPHIES (Aristide, Jean-Bertrand ).) Prior to the exodus of Haitian boat people, the English-speaking states within the OAS had been influential in transforming the Haitian crisis from a regional to an international concern by encouraging the UN Security Council to take up the matter.

      The Caribbean Basin clearly flexed its muscles in 1994. It remained to be seen how it would apply its newfound collective will in the years to come.

      David Renwick is editorial director of Daily News Ltd. in Trinidad and Tobago.

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