Time to Disband the 'NATO of the Caribbean'
The following item is based on a report by A.T. Freeman, published by the Caribbean Organization for Peoples Empowerment (COPE).
On April 5, the 24th Caribbean Nations Security Conference opened in Bridgetown, Barbados. The event, scheduled to run to April 7, was co-hosted by the commander of the U.S. Southern Command, General Laura Richardson and Commodore Errington Shurland, Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force, and was addressed by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley.
Representatives of the following Caribbean countries attended the conference: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
In addition, Britain, France and the Netherlands, the main colonial powers in the region, were also represented along with Canada and Mexico. Regional security organizations including the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Caribbean Community Implementing Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), the Regional Security System (RSS) and the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) were also present.
The theme of the conference was described as "Multinational Cooperation in a Changing Operational Environment" with a particular focus on counter-terrorism initiatives, counter-illicit flows operations, coordination for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and protecting the Blue Economy with the view to countering transnational threats and enhancing regional security.
This conference and its associated military and "security" structures under the direction of the U.S. military's Southern Command is part of that country's military and security infrastructure for the purposes of controlling the Caribbean region. It is a kind of NATOization of the Caribbean. In fact, the U.S. Southern Command is only one of seven U.S. regional military commands and four functional commands which are intended to secure U.S. military control of the entire planet and outer space. The U.S. does actually have a Space command as well.
The conference, which is driven by U.S. warmongering, represents a direct assault on the Caribbean as a 'zone of peace,' a demand that was first raised by Grenada's revolutionary government and was given legal form in the 2014 Zone of Peace Declaration adopted by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Havana, Cuba.
The people of the Caribbean do not want the U.S. and the other colonial powers involving our countries in their warmongering activities and we do not want them in our region. It is time to close down this NATO of the Caribbean and for the warmongers to exit our region.
Join the discussion on Caribbean Empowerment's Facebook page here, visit Caribbean Organisation for Peoples Empowerment Americas or by email at: caribbeanempowerment@pm.me.
For further information on the conference click here.
This article was published in
Volume 52 Number 5 - May 21, 2022
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2022/Articles/M5200516.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca