Every Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government Meeting – like all others everywhere – is the same: leaders meeting to address matters affecting their nations and citizens.
The 51st — hosted by Saint Lucia from July 5th to 8th – has attracted regional and international coverage and generated positive public responses to issues publicised during the meeting, especially a CARICOM Youth Forum and a CARICOM Reparations Forum, both of which have been generating much debate.
The Youth Forum on July 6 was addressed by Saint Lucia’s Education, Youth and Sports Minister Kenson Casimir and involved interventions by top CARICOM Secretariat officials and youth representatives from across the region.
Caribbean youth freely expressed their views during the session and through Social Media postings on CARICOM policies they have reservations on or problems with.
The exchanges between presenters and targeted audience – generations apart — underlined how yesteryear’s problems and policy responses will no-longer matter unless revisited, revised and upgraded to suit 21st Century realities.
They shared perspectives on CARICOM’s future, identified practical ways to make regional integration more relevant, accessible and beneficial to them, discussed challenges and opportunities and proposed ‘actionable recommendations’ to strengthen youth participation in regional affairs.
Likewise, the CARICOM Reparations Forum that followed on the same day (a Caribbean Conference on the Manifesto for Enlightenment of Humanity, Socio-Economic Reparatory Justice Reporting and Sustainable Development) heard CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC) Chair Sir. Hilary Beckles and Ambassador Dr. June Soomer speak on the adoption of CARICOM’s 10-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice by the African Union (AU) in Ghana, on June 18.
Former Vincentian Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves explained a series of joint reports to governments being prepared by National Reparations Committees (NRCs) and The Repair Campaign (TRC).
Executive Director of the Development Bank for Resilient Prosperity (DVRP), Ambassador Dr. Hyginus ‘Gene’ Leon, presented a thought-provoking paper titled ‘Can Reparatory Justice Reset Sustainable Development?’ offering a brand-new perspective on the matter most on everyone’s mind.
Kimani Goddard, a young Caribbean jurist, addressed the need for an ‘Equitable Global Knowledge, Intellectual Property and Innovation Economy for the 21st Century’.
The press conference that followed this week’s CARICOM Heads meeting was no-different from any other: questions were asked and answered and the press had no complaint, as all leaders were accessible between sessions.
There wasn’t much of the stale sauciness expected by stirrers of bad press soups:
- Trinidad & Tobago’s Prime Minister attended and held several joint press conferences (including with fellow leaders from Barbados and Guyana)
- Guyana didn’t threaten to kick private regional companies that disrespect regional trade laws to discriminate against it
- All member-states reaffirmed their continuing humanitarian support for starving Cuba and devastated Venezuela; and
- The new CARICOM Chairman resisted invitations to make statements just to keep ‘Breaking News’ alive on Social Media
Naturally, CARICOM faces the same obstacles affecting all regional groupings – including unrealistic over-expectations by citizens never satisfied with or by anything the region’s highest governing body says or does.
But just as one bad apple can spoil a whole bunch and the best chef can spoil a good West Indian soup with one bad ingredient, so can the best writers also spoil a good parchment with one bad word.
For every negative criticism of the Saint Lucia meeting, however, there are others praising some aspects of it.
For example:
Veteran Barbadian and Caribbean broadcaster Julian Rogers penned a spicy piece that reduced the region’s elected leaders to a bunch of hair-brained imbeciles who met for ‘three’ or ‘four’ days, but weren’t able to report properly – or at all – on what they discussed, at an international press conference.
In his ‘Caribbean Bridges’ column on July 9, 2026 — appearing before the Final Communique was issued – on the what he dubbed a ‘Castries Report Card’, the broadcaster asked: ‘Is That All?’
He caricatured the region’s elected leaders – including his – as poor players in a pantomime of comedic and near-tragic proportions, like Caribbean clones of The Naked Emperor ‘Playing Mas’ (Carnival) on Ash Wednesday (after it’s all over).
Julian said ‘The haunting notes’ of Lord Kitchener’s The Carnival is Over had been ‘echoing’ through his mind ‘since the final gavel fell in Castries, St Lucia.’
He described the gathering as ‘an anomalous piece of kaiso, closer to a smoky jazz cut than the rhythmic, high-tempo iron that usually dominates a Sunday night at Dimanche Gras.
‘It is atmospheric, definitive, and heavy with the realisation that the revelry has ended and the austere reality of Ash Wednesday has arrived.’
Praising the Barbados PM for her remarkable ability to defend CARICOM, the writer simultaneously advocated that CARICOM ‘needs a spokesman other than Mia Mottley, although he’s good at it…’
Rogers concluded that ‘CARICOM desperately requires a singular, high-calibre chief spokesman, someone possessing the precise communications skills to articulate complex integration mechanics directly to Caribbean citizens, deflect hostile foreign press, and confidently unpack what is being decided in our favour…’
However, a fellow Barbadian commentator on regional matters has offered a totally-opposite set of conclusions.
Speaking to Barbados Today yesterday (July 10), veteran political analyst regional pollster Peter Wickham said CARICOM ‘has emerged stronger, more united and better positioned for the future,’ following the conclusion of the meeting chaired by Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister.
Wickham praised the outcome of the summit as an example of mature diplomacy, constructive compromise and renewed political engagement.
He said the leaders demonstrated an ability to resolve difficult disagreements while preserving the integrity of the regional institution.
“The outcome was a fairly good one… both sides could say they came away with something,” Wickham observed, referring to the agreement to seek an advisory opinion from the Caribbean Court of Justice regarding the Secretary-General appointment process.
Interestingly, the two regional commentators saw the same meeting differently and came to contrasting conclusions — which, equally interesting, delivers early on the new Chair’s promise to encourage more discussion and debate among CARICOM citizens during his six-month tenure.