DR AMERY BROWNE
Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs
Members of the Caricom family normally avoid launching imbalanced and disrespectful descriptives about neighbouring member states. The region recently witnessed some politicians in Guyana offering public analysis of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, with one of them describing his own discourse in this manner, "it sounds arrogant, but it's not hostile or xenophobic."
Well, the truth is that some of the comments have been all three: arrogant, hostile and xenophobic.
This comes hot on the heels of opposition politicians in TT seeking to obstruct the expansion of the CSME's free movement regime and to block TT's most recent steps toward full compliance with our obligations under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
Even before this, we have seen some opposition politicians in TT advancing anti-Caricom talking points, focused on insularity and isolationism and of course remaining unsupportive of the Caribbean Court of Justice. They now seem to be trying to draw strength for their efforts from a narrative from overseas that paints a one-sided and denigrating image of TT.
So what exactly is this repeated public commentary about TT by a few Guyanese public figures designed to achieve?
Who is their target audience, and what are their objectives?
The truth is that TT citizens are amongst the warmest and most generous in the world. Nothing anyone says can change that. We are in fact largely a nation of immigrants.
There are many Guyanese and Jamaicans and Grenadians and Barbadians and Vincentians and others from the region who migrated to TT over the generations and have done extremely well for themselves and are now an integral part of our diverse, melting-pot society.
There are hundreds of thousands of Caribbean nationals who have had the same positive experience here and have been welcomed with open arms and hospitality; they have thrived in TT, they have helped develop many of our industries, and they love our land with all their heart. There have been examples of mistreatment and a better-than-thou attitude as exists in every society, but it is a complete disservice to our country to make those exceptions the rule and to disrespectfully paint an entire nation with one broad brush.
Many Guyanese have done very well here and remitted money back to Guyana over the generations and many continue to do so. That is something that we can be very proud of, as we are all part of one Caricom family.
The warmth and generosity of TT toward Guyana goes well beyond receiving so many of their nationals who were and are seeking a better life.
When the nation of Guyana needed it most, they were able to benefit from the generous write-off of billions in debt owed to TT. Interestingly this was never referenced in the recent negative “analysis.”
When Guyana was on the brink of bloodshed and widespread civil unrest after an elections fiasco, it was our Prime Minister, Dr the Honourable Keith Rowley, who went there with the Prime Minister of Barbados and a
