Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has sharply criticised the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), saying the 15-member regional integration grouping “will not determine the future” of her country and is “not a reliable partner at this time.”
In a statement issued Saturday, Persad-Bissessar accused CARICOM of losing its way by criticising the United States while lending support to Venezuela’s government.
“An organisation that chooses to disparage our greatest ally the United States but lends support to the Maduro narco-government headed by a dictator who has imprisoned and killed thousands of civilians and opposition members as well as threatened two Caricom members is one that has clearly lost its way,” she said.
Her comments come in the wake of new U.S. immigration restrictions announced on December 16, when President Donald Trump issued a fact sheet outlining a decision to further restrict the entry of certain foreign nationals in the interest of U.S. national security. The measures include a partial suspension of entry for immigrants and nonimmigrants under the B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M and J visa categories, citing concerns related to Citizenship by Investment programmes without residency requirements in Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda.
Persad-Bissessar said she had taken note of a subsequent statement by the Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government of Caribbean Community, which expressed concern about the U.S. decision and its potential impact on travel, people-to-people exchanges, and the social and economic well-being of small states.
However, she made clear that Trinidad and Tobago was distancing itself from that position.
“I am advising the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago that Port of Spain is not a party to the statement issued by the Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government,” she said, adding that while the Bureau had the right to express its views, her government maintained its own position and recognised “the sovereign right of the United States to make decisions in furtherance of its best interests.”
She said every sovereign state must accept the consequences of its foreign and domestic policy choices, describing the U.S. action as “a measured response to the conduct of other nations in the realities of the current environments that they place themselves in.”
The Caricom Bureau — comprising the prime ministers of Jamaica, Barbados and Grenada — said it recognised the right of countries to regulate entry to their borders but expressed concern that the U.S. decision was taken without prior consultation. The Bureau also cited uncertainty over the status of existing visas after January 1, 2026, and urged early engagement between Washington and the governments of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica.
But Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, publicly criticised the Bureau’s statement, saying it was issued despite his advice that the matter had already been resolved. He described the Bureau’s position as coming “especially in consideration of their inertia and initial lukewarm support.”
Browne also took aim at an unnamed Caricom leader whom he said had accused Antigua and Barbuda of “cursing the US administration,” challenging that leader to substantiate the claim.
“The inertia and insularity within Caricom continue to undermine the effectiveness of our integration movement,” Browne wrote, while adding that he remained hopeful for a stronger and more effective regional body.
In her own statement, Persad-Bissessar said Trinidad and Tobago does not bind itself to the political ideologies or foreign, economic and security policies of other CARICOM governments, stressing that member states are free to act in the best interests of their citizens.
She warned that CARICOM is facing deep internal problems, arguing that beneath a “thin mask of unity” lie widening fissures that could lead to the organisation’s implosion. She cited poor management, weak accountability, factional divisions, destabilising policies, private conflicts among leaders and political parties, and inappropriate interference in domestic politics.
“Caricom cannot continue to operate in this dysfunctional and self-destructive manner as it is a grave disservice to the people of the Caribbean,” she said, calling for transparency and honesty in confronting what she described as “the rot within the organisation.”
Persad-Bissessar also warned of “repercussions” for supporting Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, adding that “we must all live with the consequences of our actions.”
“Our citizens can rest assured that I will always make decisions that put Trinidad and Tobago first,” she said.
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