CARICOM has role to play in Venezuela situation says PM Harris

Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris delivering remarks as Outgoing Chairman at the opening of the 40th Conference of the CARICOM Heads of Government

Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and outgoing Chairman of the CARICOM Conference of Heads, Dr. Timothy Harris has said that the Region’s engagement in the attempts at resolving the situation in Venezuela has demonstrated that there is a role for CARICOM to play.

Dr. Harris was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 40th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM being held in Saint Lucia 3-5 July, 2019.

He outlined that the CARICOM Heads, Foreign Ministers and officials, as well as the CARICOM Secretary-General, have represented the Community in engaging with the UN Secretary-General and other interested parties, such as the International Contact Group on the matter.

“We have consistently argued that the cardinal principles to undergird a resolution of the political crisis in Venezuela include non-interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela, inviolability of the Sovereign State, respect for democracy, rule of law and the constitution of Venezuela as well as peace and resolution of conflict,” Prime Minister Harris said.

Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris delivering remarks as Outgoing Chairman at the 40th Conference of the CARICOM Heads of Government He further said that for CARICOM, non-interference and non-intervention in the internal affairs of states, prohibition of the threat and use of force, respect for sovereignty, adherence to the rule of law, respect for the constitutional framework and democracy, and the right of people to self-determination are core principles, which should not be violated.

“These are what we have to cling to in a world where international law and multilateralism are being undermined and small states are being increasingly marginalised. And despite whatever apparent differences appear in the ranks of CARICOM, I can assert that we all subscribe to these principles,” he declared.

Speaking to the integration movement, Dr. Harris said it needed to be kept on track, noting that there had been progress that had been incremental while the challenges had exponentially increased. He said that if the Region was to “merely survive”, processes of common action needed to be accelerated. He explained that the technological revolution, the volatility of the geo-political climate, the erosion of global principles among other challenges required a sense of urgency to determine the pace of progress in comparison to the necessities.

In closing his remarks, Dr. Harris used the opportunity to commend the CARICOM Secretary-General and the staff of the CARICOM Secretariat for their industry, ingenuity, reliability and professionalism.

“We are blessed to have such an excellent cadre of regional public servants working to effect our integration arrangements,” the outgoing Chairman said.

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10 Comments

  1. time has told
    July 9, 2019

    CARICOM especially has a major part to play. We have benefited the most from Venezuela’s generosity as their neighbors. dont worry, we will see more venezuelans soon. Price we now have to pay because of our laissez fait attitude towards it. .

  2. Listen
    July 8, 2019

    Hello. Yoohoo. Mr. Harris and friends, why don’t you direct your attention to Dominica with our crooked PM and corrupt government that trying anything and everything to stay in power? Or are you waiting for us us to come like Venzuela for you to give a speech? Tell Skerrit we want an updated voters list! We want voters IDs! No elections without electoral reform! We want electoral reform now! Ok. Listen up.👂

  3. Truth
    July 5, 2019

    The blood of the people of Venezuela is on the hands of those caricom leaders especially the Dominica PM

  4. Joseph John
    July 5, 2019

    Can we ever be objective ? Why the pro or con partisanship . The situation in Venezuela is unactable because it has become a polarization problem orchestrating for regime change by the USA. CARICOM has a position on non interference in countries internal affairs, an international practice.

    • Joseph John
      July 7, 2019

      CARICOM should be a none align organization and stand for peaceful negotiations and solutions within the working of the United Nations. It should be aware of the USA self serving interventions as displayed in Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iraq, Cuba. When Egypt nationalize the Aswan dam and when Mexica did the same to its oil they both were given all kinds of hell by the USA. Remember when Cuba nationalize its sugar industry it became non grata.
      If you think USA is interested in the humanitarian problems they orchestrated in Venezuela for their oil interest just pay attention to the Latin children in concentration type holdings at the boarder.
      It is good to see the united front displayed by CARICOM. Hope this will continue.
      If CARICOM and other countries did not take a stand on this, USA would have invaded and splash the blood of both civilians and military as they did in Iraq. Then leave a vacuum for chaos while their corporations grab the world biggest crude oil reserve .

      • Ibo france
        July 8, 2019

        For the first time I’m fully in agreement with you, Joseph John. You deserve a lot of respect on his one. In my opinion, you have it spot on. The US is a land of opportunities but their foreign policies are all self serving. They create economic and political turmoil in countries that don’t tow the same line as them or do not acquiesce to their demands or ideology. Then, the US invade them under the guise of humanitarian rescue missions. Their police gun down black people for nothing and their border security cage Latino children as young as months old. Their big multi-national corporations want their filthy hands on Venezuelan oil.

  5. Channel 1
    July 5, 2019

    Apparently, CARICOM’s role is to serve as a useless talkshop bawling for discussions thereby buying time (whether accidentally or not) for the Russians etc to sneak into Venezuela under disguised missions in order to prop up Maduro.

    I thought y’all fellas said outside countries shouldn’t interfere in the internal affairs of another country?

    Where y’all voices now that the Russians & Cubans are in place with reports of Hezbollah & Iran also having their agents in place in Venezuela?

    Has CARICOM sent any humanitarian or security assistance to Venezuela?

    It has some police in Dominica that like to fire tear gas behind protestors; tell Skerro to send dem Venezuela to fire tear gas? These Dominica tear-gas police think they tough in their RoboCop suits. :lol: :lol:

    I heard is Venezuelan oil the US is interested in. So CARICOM (especially a CERTAIN some of its OECS members) ain’t interested in the same Venezuelan oil (via PetroCaribe)?….. 8-O 8-O

    Oh the irony.

  6. Jonathan Y St Jean
    July 5, 2019

    Doesn’t Mr. Harris believe that Caricom has a role to play in Dominica as well? The Pope has come out strongly, along with the bishop and other concerned citizens and bodies, to include the private sector organizations on the issue of much needed electoral reform. Is Mr. Harris and Caricom sending the message that they will only play a part after there has been bloodshed in Dominica? The same Caricom sent out an observer mission which issued a report calling for the same electoral reform. Let them bury their heads in the sands of corruption and bad governance. Stop trying to play above your pay grade for relevance and focus on serious issues within your own little family before they spiral out of control.

    • talesofwoe
      July 9, 2019

      what bloodshed in Dominica are you speaking about? our crime rate is lower than his country’s by far. and they have much less people than us. So should mr harris worry about ours or his? id think his. there is no noteworthy bloodshed in dominica as a result of a lack of electoral reform or politics. stop your nonsense. I am not a laborite nor am i a workers. my view is objective. but to me yours sounds highly sensationalized.

  7. Ibo france
    July 5, 2019

    Quite a mouthful from PM Harris. CARICOM, as a regional organization, should not be seen by its people as a mere talk-shop. In order to be effective, CARRICOM should focus on just a few important things at a time. Get these done then move on to other significant plans. For example, focus on food security as our food import bill is much too high. Also, National Security and intra island transportation. Next, they can create a standard Blueprint for good governance throughout the region as too many individual CARICOM governments have become too corrupt. Another plan could be a deepening of trade among regional countries. I suspect we might never get to the things that can propel us forward as one body. The regional individual leaders are too insular. Their major goal is on retaining power to enrich themselves and their families. As a region, we are in deep peril.

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