Freundel Stuart joins former CARICOM leaders in call for Caribbean ‘Zone of Peace’

Former Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has joined ten of his CARICOM counterparts in a united appeal for the Caribbean to remain a “Zone of Peace,” warning against the growing militarisation of regional waters and the threat of foreign interference.

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Their statement, endorsed by Trinidad and Tobago’s immediate past prime minister Dr Keith Rowley, reaffirms principles that once guided regional diplomacy. Rowley described his support as a necessary reaffirmation of regional values.

In a joint declaration titled Our Caribbean Space: A Zone of Peace on Land, Sea and Airspace Where the Rule of Law Prevails, the leaders expressed “apprehension on the increased military security build-up and the presence of nuclear vessels and aircraft within the Caribbean archipelago.” They urged all parties to “pull back from military build-up to avoid any diminution of peace, stability and development within our regional space that has the potential to pull the region into conflicts which are not of our making.”

The declaration was signed by former prime ministers P. J. Patterson and Bruce Golding of Jamaica, Kenny Anthony of Saint Lucia, Donald Ramotar of Guyana, Tillman Thomas of Grenada, Edison James of Dominica, Baldwin Spencer of Antigua and Barbuda, and Belizeans Said Musa and Dean Barrow, alongside Stuart of Barbados.

Rowley, who led Trinidad and Tobago from 2015 to 2025, also formally signed the document on his 76th birthday. He said: “It is with a deep sense of loss and sadness that I reflect on the leadership provided by Trinidad and Tobago at an earlier time. It is a dangerous dereliction of duty under any circumstances to embrace the discarded colonial mantra that might is right and that the rule of law, local or international, is an inconvenience and a humbug.”

The declaration comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions in the region, including renewed concerns over the Guyana–Venezuela border dispute and reports of increased foreign naval activity in the Caribbean Sea. It also follows debate over current Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s foreign-policy stance and her government’s closer security co-operation with external partners, a direction critics say departs from CARICOM’s long-held position of neutrality and respect for sovereignty.

The signatories reaffirmed CARICOM’s founding principle that disputes should be resolved through negotiation and dialogue. They recalled that when Caribbean leaders met at Chaguaramas in 1972 under the chairmanship of Dr Eric Williams, peace was established as a cornerstone of the region’s political and social development.

They stressed that “established international law and conventions, rather than war and military might, should prevail in finding solutions to seemingly intractable problems,” and warned that small island states with limited resources remain vulnerable to external pressures and illicit activities such as drug and arms trafficking that could threaten their sovereignty and security.

“Preserving our Caribbean space as an established Zone of Peace is for us a vital imperative,” the declaration concluded. “Our shared history and common interests demand oneness. We have gone too far to turn back now.”