Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre’s January 11, 2026 New Year Address highlighted his second-term administration’s priority plans for the rest of this year.
Among them: Health, Education, Infrastructure, Youth Economy, Regularizing Unplanned Development, Ease of Doing Business, Fighting Crime and Violence, Unemployment Insurance and Social Protection for Workers and Families.
He also spoke of: Building a Modern Tech-Driven Society to Prepare Saint Lucia for the Digital Global Economy through Responsible Use of Information Technology (IT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
However, for many, the main matter of concern was (and still is) the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the Government o Saint Lucia has entered into with the US for ‘third country’ deportation of asylum seekers the US will disapprove.
Saint Lucia is the latest of several Caribbean nations Washington has been able to get to agree to sign related agreements — at the unstated risk of citizens of non-compliant nations facing US visa entry impositions, including a deposit US $15,000 on arrival, reimbursed only on exit.
With Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member-states Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia now in the loop, Grenada and Saint Vincent & The Grenadines – also belonging to the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) — are the only two still out.
Meanwhile, (as if to start to pay for not having agreed to locate an American military radar at its Maurice Bishop International Airport for possible use Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)against Venezuela) Grenada has been slapped with a US Travel Advisory that’ll seriously affect its tourism.
And the new Saint Vincent & The Grenadines government led by Prime Minister Godwin Friday remains tight-lipped — for now.
However, never mind the huge efforts by all governments already entrapped in the beginning of this latest US-Caribbean immigrant deportation quagmire to assure citizens they’ve guarded national interests, the usual critics have already gone to town with their tinted and tainted views.
But like Iran, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Greenland, Mexico and other countries already identified for special Trumpian treatment after Venezuela under the new Monroe (now ‘Donroe’) Doctrine, governments and leaders everywhere are walking tightropes – and some over broken bottles.
Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and Surinam may very-well also be considering similar arrangements, their governments equally-forced to choose between defending national sovereignty and facing real threats of forced compliance.
But while CARICOM governments tip-toe around the issue, there are growing calls for the regional Heads of Government body to come closer together and speak louder on the real threat(s) posed by the new challenges after Venezuela.
Saint Lucia’s oldest newspaper, THE VOICE, is among those non-government entities calling on the region’s leadership to wake-up and smell the coffee early-enough in the new year, to make a difference.
Its Editorial last weekend (Saturday January 10, 2025) headlined ‘Ready or Not’, says that for Caribbean citizens, what matters most at this time is “how we’ll be able to manage amidst what has been described as a global crisis of epic proportion.”
The editorial drew attention to the possible wider regional scenarios following the US invasion of Venezuela, like on trade and transport and how they can affect food imports.
It then referred to the Caribbean’s age-old dilemma: being endowed with fertile soil and abundant water, yet – for decades — sustaining an increasingly-high annual Food Import Bill.
The editorial concluded, however, that it’ll take quite some time and effort to get Caribbean people “to buy into the concept of utilizing locally produced products.”
In its earlier midweek issue (January 7, 2026), THE VOICE — the Eastern Caribbean’s second-oldest newspaper (established 1885) — also voiced concern that the region’s political leaders may be too-quiet, in the face of an “urgent and unprecedented crisis that demands a united response.”
“The unfounded kidnapping” of Venezuela’s president and his family “is not just a violation of sovereignty” but “an affront to the fundamental democratic principles that the people of the region hold dear,” the paper said
That action, it added, “must be viewed as a serious threat that endangers not only Venezuela but the entire region.”
The comment continued: “The region must stand firm against such violations, affirming its dedication to democratic governance and the right of all nations to self-determination.”
According to THE VOICE: “Regional leaders cannot afford to remain silent. Now, more than ever, the region must come together to condemn this aggressive act and demonstrate its unwavering commitment to peace and stability in the Caribbean.”
In a clarion call to the wider Caribbean region, THE VOICE said: “Let the region’s people raise their voices in unison against this military aggression. It’s time to act to support our neighbouring countries and to preserve the principles of democracy.”
It advocated that: “A strong, united stand today will echo through history, reinforcing the region’s commitment to safeguarding peace and sovereignty in the Caribbean.”
The newspaper reflects a basic feeling among Caribbean nationalists that, irrespective of how they viewed Maduro, the US actions that led to his abduction at a loss of over 140 (Venezuelan and Cuban) lives simply wasn’t right.
However, if Caribbean governments and leaders continue to see and treat such major challenges only as insurmountable problems, they’ll never seek or find the solutions they breed.
In the global context, the new Caribbean and Latin American dispensation require totally-new thinking on the part of those leaders who may not-yet have fully-appreciated just how-much times have changed.
By all measurements, this is surely one of the most-testing and challenging times for the CARICOM region.
But every challenge also brings opportunities, which regional leaders must always seek and grab in these new times when necessity continues to open the way for new creative inventions.
Time has therefore come (yet again) to change gear — and CARICOM governments need to aptly adjust to the new and ongoing global and regional geopolitical climate changes affecting the region and its people.
It’s now, or never!