By Earl Bousquet

Same with the new government in Trinidad & Tobago… But, here again, many seem to forget that (as being played-out in the USA and elsewhere today) Regime Change in two-party states (big and small) often sees new governments begin by ‘exposing’ so-called ‘bad deals’ by their predecessors, some even trying to erase history by simply writing (or signing) it off.
Venezuela and Cuba are under imperial pressure, the Guyana-Venezuela issue is escalating while Caracas flexes around the Trump administration’s revolving-door and transactional tactics regarding deportations and wrongful detention of its citizens at the US Guantanamo Base in Cuba and outsourcing others the modern penal colony in El Salvador.
CARICOM continues to waltz with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (who’s very clear about what Washington wants to see done to Cuba’s healthy ties with Caribbean nations), while praying for special treatment on implementation of the new tariffs President Trump has imposed on the rest of the world.
With the Trump administration and most of Europe also competing to sell passports to rich foreigners interested in shifting their assets to US and European jurisdictions, Green Cards are being upgraded with multi-million-dollar Golden Visas, while the EU and US threaten to punish Caribbean nations offering cheaper passports for sale.
The leadership being shown by the BRICS nations and the dozens seeking to join in the move to create the needed new global order is also reflected in the leadership Burkina Faso is showing in the Sahel region with Mali and Niger.
Africa-Caribbean ties must be strengthened bilaterally -and not only from a Big Brother standpoint- as trade between the continent and the region is still defined by the traditional lines of deprivation left by the so-called Great Triangle and Middle Passage.
The Middle Passage must be reversed and the Triangle mut be replaced by a new circle of multinational and bilateral cooperation between Africa and the Caribbean, within the context of the Second Decade for People of African Descent.
The African Union (AU) will continue seeing and treating the African Diaspora as its ‘Sixth Region’, but CARICOM must also maintain its distinct regional identity while strengthening multilateral and bilateral ties with African nations, not only based on history and culture, but also global politics and international economics.
Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa have been developing Caribbean ties at government and institutional levels, including establishing multilateral financing and development banking initiatives.
India is also reaching-out to the Caribbean -as a friend of both Guyana and Venezuela and with ties with all CARICOM member-states -is another lifeline the region cannot ignore.
Russia has friendly ties with all CARICOM member-states and will not be averse to assisting the region in new ways, as with its increased help for Cuba and Venezuela, whether by providing emergency assistance or purchasing energy supplies.
Brazil and Mexico are Caribbean partners and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Bolivarian Alternative for Our Americas (ALBA) do provide many possibilities to change challenges into opportunities for closer and wider cooperation.
With all the above, the Caribbean must also enhance thoughts and efforts towards greater regional energy cooperation between CARICOM member-states in the Oil and Gas business, with the likes of T&T and Venezuela sharing their expertise with regional partners now being fought over by US and European multinationals in the energy business.
With nine CARICOM member-states having ties with Beijing and China leading the world’s fightback against Trump’s global trade war, it will also be possible for related governments to enter into related bilateral trade and energy arrangements that will help avoid the effects of the US tariffs on regional energy prices.
Washington has already withdrawn its earlier threat to impose a one-million-dollar fine on every ship built in China that calls at any US port, which would have crippled sea trade between US and Caribbean ports.
But, as always, Washington is hiding its carrots while holding the Monroe Doctrine’s Big Stick aloft -and in clear sight.
This also applies to Haiti, where the new imperial order is recalibrating its approach to militarize aid and monetize politics, with Washington outlawing local armed entities and France sounding like it’s ready to apologize for the 150 million gold francs it charged Haiti for daring to liberate itself -but without reparations, or repair.
These are new times, with political climate change continuing to unfold in the Caribbean as in Africa and other parts of the developing world, as Humanity adjusts to the latest rumblings of another changing imperial order -but this time the beginning of the end, the crumbling of the walls of the world’s richest and strongest empire, in a new world that also deplores Modern Slavery.
Latin America has the spirits of Simon Bolivar, Jose Marti, Farabundo Marti, Augusto Sandino and Salvador Allende, while the Caribbean has the spirits of Toussaint L’Ouverture, Henri Christophe, Jean-Baptiste Bideau, Marcus Garvey, Cheddi Jagan, Eric Williams, W. Arthur Lewis, George Lamming, C.L.R. James, Derek Walcott, Walter Rodney, Michael Manley and Maurice Bishop -among others…
This new age demands revisiting the old to rediscover the long road to how we got here, to inform our thoughts and actions for today and tomorrow -and for preparing today’s young to take care of tomorrow’s old.
The new global scenario offers both challenges and opportunities and instead of only focusing on the former, the Caribbean must also look closer at the latter, including developing more reliable ties with other developing nations showing willingness to start a new beginning towards another necessary new world order.
Adjust we must -and we can.