Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley says growing geopolitical tensions and domestic security concerns prompted her decision to contest another general election, reversing earlier intentions to step away from frontline politics.
Speaking days before the February 11 general election, Mottley explained that developments across the region and globally weighed heavily in her decision to seek another term, particularly the potential impact of international conflicts and economic pressures on Barbados.
“So that when I saw what was happening last year with the tariffs and with the geopolitical struggles and the threats that were starting to come into the Caribbean as a zone of peace, we knew that there would be issues with Cuba and Venezuela and all of that,” she said.
The prime minister noted that instability in Venezuela could directly affect Barbados because of its position as a major tourism hub in the southern Caribbean. “We knew that should anything break in Venezuela, Barbados was the largest tourism hub nearest to Venezuela,” she explained.
On January 3, the United States carried out a large-scale military strike in Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro, triggering regional uncertainty and airspace disruptions across parts of the eastern and southern Caribbean. In Barbados, the fallout was immediate.
“As we saw on the 3rd of January, we paid the largest price because it was our country that saw the greatest number of cancellation of flights with respect to tourists and by extension also to the cruise lines,” Mottley said, linking the disruptions to airspace restrictions that affected travel in and out of the United States and the wider region.
She said the events underscored the need for experienced leadership capable of navigating complex regional and economic challenges. Reflecting on her own experience, Mottley noted that she had served as minister of education for seven years and attorney general for five years before becoming prime minister.
“I recognise that I also served as Minister of Education for 7 years and Attorney General for 5 years, and that there would be very few people who would be able to bring together what was necessary to start to deal with the strengthening of our law enforcement system, the reform of our criminal justice system, and the need to build strong societies, strong communities, strong families to fight crime, to prevent crime in this country,” she said.
Mottley added that discussions with former political rival Michael Lashley also influenced her decision to run again. “Ironically, that is how Michael Lashley and I started talking, because we saw Barbados first, not party,” she said, adding that these were “the two reasons, predominantly, that caused me to change my mind.”
Barbadians head to the polls on February 11 after Mottley called the snap election in January, with voters set to choose a new government amid heightened regional uncertainty and ongoing domestic concerns over crime and economic resilience.
