As the Caricom heads gather in Georgetown for their annual ritual, they do so in circumstances where three of them have committed themselves to integration with a regional organization of an altogether different cast. This is the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, formerly known as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, and usually referred to by its acronym, ‘Alba.’ Questions had been raised earlier in the region about Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s integration project involving Trinidad and the Eastern Caribbean, which, it was said, would undermine Caricom. While this view is not without merit, at least it involves a sub-grouping of Caricom states, which, Trinidad excepted, are already members of the OECS. Alba, in contrast, is the creature of President Hugo Chávez, and a vehicle for Venezuelan aggrandisement first in the region, and then in the hemisphere. Earlier this month Prime Minister Bruce Golding of Jamaica was reported as saying that Alba was “going to have a destabilizing effect on Caricom.”
The Caricom states which have committed themselves to Alba are Dominica, which joined some time ago, and most recently, Antigua and Barbuda, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. In addition to these countries and Venezuela, the members of the bloc now consist of Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Honduras and Nicaragua. It should be added that at the Sixth Summit of Alba, held last week in Aragua State, Venezuela, Grenada participated as an observer, from which it can perhaps be inferred that that island too may be contemplating a realignment of its regional commitments.
The Latin states involved are all socialist in orientation, which is no accident since the declared objectives of the organization are anti-capitalist and anti-free market. Exactly how the three Caricom nations reconcile this with the principles enunciated in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, has yet to be explained. But more than this, as Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said last week, “Alba is a political project… We should not reduce integration to the search for markets.” And President Chávez’s political directions are hardly a secret.
While all elections held in Venezuela under his watch have been free so far, he has reduced the democratic space in the country considerably in other ways, and has the independent media under great pressure. His foreign alliances too, have not reflected a preference for democratic regimes, and his general lack of concern for democracy and the open society is revealed in his statements about Cuba, which he holds out as a model to be emulated. Alba too incorporates the Venezuelan President’s perceptions, and the final declaration of the summit last week included statements that the leaders backed President Ahmadinejad of Iran, rejected “foreign interference” in Iran’s domestic issues and held the CIA responsible for the protests in Tehran and other cities.
Whether the three Caricom members signed on to all parts of this declaration, is not clear at the moment, but even if they did not, they will be associated with it, and at future summits they will find they will have less and less room to distinguish their positions; Mr Chávez simply does not have the patience for dissent. (It might be noted in passing, that while most Caricom governing parties for obvious reasons have had little to say about the Iranian election, Guyana’s PPP, courtesy of Mr Donald Ramotar writing in the Weekend Mirror – and despite a contradictory final paragraph – ironically, given its history, argued itself into a position that Mr Ahmadinejad appeared to have won the election, and the Western media were going “overboard.”) Iran, of course, is one of the nations identified by President of the Alba bank with which the organization will negotiate joint co-operation projects.
At the summit too, according to El Universal, the nine members of the grouping announced that they would mobilize “against the coup attempt” reported by President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras. Exactly what this means is uncertain; however, the possible general future direction which Mr Chávez might have in mind for Alba’s external enterprises, was revealed in his address to the group where he said that aggression against any Latin American or Caribbean country will be viewed as aggression against all peoples. “To strike Nicaragua is to strike Venezuela…” he was quoted as saying. At the moment this might seem to be little more than hyperbole, but the President of our western neighbour is nothing if not ambitious, and, it might be added, tenacious, where his long-term vision is concerned.
He also launched into a diatribe against the UN and OAS in his customary uninhibited fashion, and while many countries have voiced their well-founded criticisms of the first organization in particular, Mr Chávez had previously given an insight into his thinking by threatening to withdraw from the OAS. If he could build up Alba enough, it is reasonable to surmise that he would take the members out of the OAS as a direct challenge to the US and those he perceives as Washington’s allies. In that game, numbers are important, which is one of the reasons (although by no means the only one) why he is pursuing the small states of Caricom with such avidity. It was the Honduran Foreign Minister, however, who suggested to the summit that the Alba nations form a “united platform regarding their common problems” at meetings of the UN and OAS, among others. This proposal will no doubt be pursued at some point, and if so, where will Caricom fit into that scenario, more particularly if there is a clash of interests?
President Chávez is not a man to waste time, and the three Caricom islands will find themselves locked into his aims and objectives sooner rather than later. But why, it might be asked, have they committed themselves to an arrangement whose conception no matter what they say, cannot be reconciled with that of Caricom. The answer is quite simply economic. In exchange for some extraordinarily generous aid, Dominica has sacrificed her position on Bird Island (or Bird Rock), thereby allowing Venezuela to claim maritime space that impinges even on that of Barbados. At the very least it can be said that there has been no attenuation of Venezuela’s greed where the Caribbean is concerned, since that country prefers to take over territory herself rather than assist small islands to develop resources which are legitimately theirs. As we had mentioned in an editorial some time ago, Venezuela is now challenging Barbados’s right to issue concessions in a particular offshore area.
According to Caribbean Net News, Caracas is establishing a state-of-the-art coffee processing plant on Dominica, and is also opening a branch of the Alba bank there. This is in addition to the fuel storage and distribution plant, sea defence works, airport improvement, road construction and housing. Other areas of co-operation, the agency reported, included national security, agriculture, tourism, human resource development, the construction of two primary schools and the funding of some community-based projects. With this level of Venezuelan investment, Dominica will find that to all intents and purposes she has surrendered her sovereignty and her independence. The fact that Mr Chávez is fulfilling his promises to Dominica at a time when analysts say that for economic reasons he cannot possibly implement all the promises he has made around the region, speaks volumes about his intentions and his geopolitical thinking.
Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer of Antigua was reported recently as saying that joining Alba did not in any way signal a wavering of his country’s commitment to integration at the level of the OECS and Caricom. He really can’t be serious. Venezuela is trying to swallow Caricom, territory by territory.
