By Tony Deyal
In our first year in Elementary school in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) we had to learn English nursery rhymes starting with, “Here we go round the mulberry bush/ The mulberry bush…” It did not take us long to wash our faces, comb our hairs, and even brush our teeth, mainly because every morning was cold. More importantly, my mother kept a belt and made it clear that the neighbour’s car was coming to take me to school, and I had better be ready, otherwise “is licks like fire.”
Now, even though many, many years have passed, I taught and worried about what was happening and worse, expected, in the entire Caribbean. More, not just us in our region, but also other external “bigwigs” like Venezuela, China, Russia, and more, the bigshot USA. Lust thinking about what to expect and the dangers for all of us, it took me back to the mulberry bush and other tales, which were, like now, the ten most popular nursery rhymes of all time, but also the darkest. Moreover, it was clear to me that, like Jack and Jill are heading up a huge hill and instead of water, Jack will fall down the hill and Jill will come tumbling after.
Given that Jack and Jill were out of circulation, I decided to go to the “Three Blind Mice” for a sense of what to expect, especially within the Caribbean and our leaders. The “Searchlight” Editorial in “Zone of Peace or Threat of War?” put the context for two of the Three Blind Mice, CARICOM Trinidad and Tobago, in this way, “The decision to deploy significant US military assets in the southern area of the Caribbean; the sensitive waters between Venezuela, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, coinciding with our CARIFESTA celebrations, indicates scant regard for our own sensibilities on the part of a powerful northern neighbour. But even more worrying are the actions of the founder of CARICOM integration, our respected sister-country of Trinidad and Tobago, to clearly place the interests of others above those of our entire region.
This sister-country, which has recently experienced a change of political leadership, as it is entitled to do, has shown disrespect for the region by first refusing to be represented at the CARICOM heads of government meeting at the level of prime minister.” Worse, according to Searchlight, “Now, ominously, it appears that the T&T leadership has gone even further by expressing full support for US military actions in the region and indicating its readiness to be a willing staging ground for any military action initiated by the US military against a regional state.
Even more alarming is the fact that Trinidad and Tobago has CARICOM responsibility for security. It has shown scant regard for this responsibility by expressing the view, at the very highest level, that it does not have to consult CARICOM about its actions.” In other words, the who-is-who in the Caribbean, and who was saying what about whom instead of working out a way for both parties to work together as one CARICOM, put two for the price of one-the Trini and the Bajan.
So, who is the third blind mice? From the others involved, there are a few. Donald Trump is blowing up boats off Venezuela. From what some folks think, Trump is following the United States playbook, which was used 35 years ago to topple a Central American dictator they didn’t like. Is it true that Trump is about to declare war?
The Caribbean is currently facing geopolitical tensions under Trump. Recent events, such as US military presence and political divisions, raise concerns about the region’s unity and security. The US military deployment in the Caribbean has been seen as a potential threat, especially in light of China’s total involvement and in addition to supporting Venezuela, it offered T&T money!
Moreover, Russia has joined up with China to support Venezuela. Yet, the US Navy has eight warships with over 5,000 sailors and Marines in the region and three destroyers, three amphibious assault ships, a cruiser and a small ship designed for combat in shallow waters.
Trump warned the Venezuelan government to immediately accept prisoners and people from mental institutions and made it clear, “Get them the hell out of our country, right now, or the price you pay will be incalculable.” When a reporter asked what he meant, Trump said, “You’re gonna have to figure that out.” He also made it clear that questions about his use of military power was “self-defence” because the drug cartels pose an immediate threat to the US. In fact, a Florida Republican, Mario Diaz-Balart, added that mad-man Maduro is down to three options: “Get out, rot in jail for the rest of his life like Noriega, or end up like Soleimani (in ashes and in a plastic bag).”
What brings Trump deeper into the trio is that with the Barbadian prime minister seeming to have been creating problems for him and his supporters in the Caribbean, he had to take her down or out of the reasoning. So, he dropped a “biggie” on Barbados as the “2025 Tier 2 Watch List-Trafficking in persons…” It reads, “The government of Barbados does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Despite making significant efforts to do so, it did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period. Therefore, Barbados was downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List.”
This is the final straw that put Trump in the Three Blind Mice. The major difference between “Jack and Jill” and “Three Blind Mice” is that Mice is not nice in any disguise. However, in this case, there is space for the two Caribbean leaders to think, discuss and consider what I call “stop thinking one or the other but go for both.” In other words, instead of “yes” or “no,” go for what Trinis call “the two of them.” On the one hand, and in one stroke, the solidarity that was the Caribbean’s only shield in international politics.
However, from the public relations, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, her country had been overwhelmed by bloodshed and rising violence and her government “will not be deterred by partisan outbursts of anti-American rhetoric when it comes to accepting help in confronting drug cartels.” In doing so, CARICOM lost its only shield against a superpower alone. But it is also said that not a shred of credible evidence has been produced to show that these individuals were traffickers. So instead of allowing the US to pick off states of the US one by one without facing a unified CARICOM, it is time to go for both- one Caribbean.
*Tony says that the best thing to do would be to put prime ministers, Mia Mottley and Kamla Persad-Bissessar. in Lime Cay in Jamaica and don’t let them come out until they have an agreement to work together in making the Caribbean the best it can be as one people under God.
