Dominica: Former Grenadian Public Officer and frequent contributor on Caribbean affairs, Toronto-based Ian Francis, said that he was “not surprised at the behaviour” of the three OECS leaders Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica, Antigua’s Baldwin Spencer and Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, “but rather deeply embarrassed”, on their decision taken on a recent ALBA declaration adopted on the territorial Falklands Islands dispute between Britain and Argentina, according to a Dominica NewsOnline report.
The Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA) declaration said it supported “the decision made by the countries of the region to ban ships with the colonial flag imposed on the Malvinas from entering their ports”. Both Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica in post-ALBA summit statements said they did not support the banning of ships as stated in the declaration.
The DNO report said Francis in a commentary on the matter, stated “Suffice to say that whatever spins or clarification these three leaders seek to advance, the episode is of great embarrassment and the three ALBA enthusiasts could have presumed a number of likely occurrences before they left their respective domains”. According to him all three should have been aware of a previous Caribbean Community (CARICOM) position on the UK/Argentina dispute when it flared into military action several years ago.
The DNO said that the following is what the writer raised on the matter:
This grave error committed by our three regional leaders is inexcusable and reflects on the ability and knowledge of persons in the region. Several thoughts have emerged in my thinking which requires me to ask the following five questions.
1) Prior to departing from their respective capitals for Caracas, were the three leaders briefed by foreign affairs officials about the Britain-Argentina conflict?
2) Were the three Caribbean leaders at the ALBA talk shop aware that, in 1980, CARICOM governments had taken a unanimous position on the conflict, which is stored at the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana?
3) Did the three Caribbean ALBA enthusiasts call the CARICOM secretary general for a search of the CARICOM archives that would have discovered the positions taken by our heads in 1980? If this was done and information properly consumed, these three leaders could have indicated to the other disciples that there was already a CARICOM position in existence and they were obliged to be guided by the decision. Therefore, they could not vote or support the resolution.
4) What was the composition of each the three leaders’ delegation?
5) Do they now understand that ALBA, CELAC and other hastily put together Chavez initiatives will not benefit the Caribbean Commonwealth nations, as the motive and intent of these institutions is anti-United States and Canada?
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