A government’s ultimate responsibility is to give its people a safe place to live, care for its most vulnerable citizens, provide dependable healthcare and education, build sound infrastructure and create the best possible economic opportunities. For a small island developing state with limited resources, every major decision must be tested against that responsibility. Foreign policy cannot be an exercise in ideology for its own sake. The question is whether our choices improve the lives and prospects of Saint Lucians.
What power does a small island developing state have when the countries on which it depends are drawing new economic and security lines? Saint Lucia has the same vote as the largest powers in the United Nations, but a vote cannot guarantee our development or protect our borders. Global military spending is rising while development aid is under pressure, and competition over artificial intelligence and strategic resources is deepening the divide. AI may prove as consequential to this era as nuclear rivalry was to the Cold War. (UN, SIPRI, OECD)
For Saint Lucia, this is not an abstract debate. Our institutions, diaspora, tourism markets and much of our commerce link us to the West. We remain free to choose our foreign policy, but freedom of choice does not eliminate the cost of a poor choice. Can an economy so dependent on Western visitors and investment afford an adversarial relationship with its principal partners?
In my view, the government has failed to face the facts about what Saint Lucia needs to grow its economy and meet its obligations to its citizens. Visa restrictions have reduced our travel access. The United States has raised its travel advisory because of crime. Our citizenship by investment programme faces growing scrutiny from countries whose trust matters to us. These developments have different causes, but together they raise a serious question: how does the government intend to restore confidence and secure the opportunities on which our economy depends?
The government’s choices on Venezuela and Cuba make that question more urgent. In January 2025, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre sent Nicolás Maduro a message congratulating him on the start of his third term, according to Venezuela’s foreign ministry. Saint Lucia’s Speaker represented the country at Maduro’s inauguration. When Washington later raised concerns about Cuban medical personnel, Pierre defended their contribution to our health system and said his government had answered the U.S. inquiry. Saint Lucia has every right to conduct its own diplomacy and to value the doctors who serve our people. But those positions also required an honest assessment of our wider relationship with the United States and its importance to Saint Lucia’s future. (Venezuelan foreign ministry, Government of Saint Lucia)
Maduro’s capture by the United States in January 2026, followed by Venezuela’s shift towards engagement with Washington, has changed the region’s geopolitical calculation. Cuba, meanwhile, faces a severe fuel crisis amid longstanding U.S. sanctions and newer restrictions on oil supplies, with grave consequences for ordinary people. My conclusion is that small Caribbean states cannot assume that other allies will shield them from the economic or security decisions of the dominant power in our hemisphere. This does not make every U.S. action right. It does mean that Saint Lucia—and the wider Caribbean—must rethink geopolitical strategies built on confrontation with a country so central to our security, trade and economic prospects. (UK House of Commons Library, United Nations)
Yet, while defending an arrangement to receive third-country deportees from the United States, the Prime Minister asked whether a prime minister could tell Washington no. His government says it rejected four proposed transfers, so Saint Lucia can refuse requests. The deeper issue is the imbalance of power Pierre himself acknowledged. If accepting deportees is a negotiation, Saint Lucians deserve to know the terms, the costs and what broader benefits, if any, were secured. Covering the immediate costs of receiving people is not, by itself, an economic strategy. (Saint Lucia Times, Saint Lucia Times)
Confidence in our passport is part of this challenge. The United Kingdom introduced visas for Saint Lucians in 2026, citing asylum claims and risks associated with citizenship by investment. Ireland followed, aligning its policy with the UK and the Schengen area. The European Commission has also asked Eastern Caribbean countries operating such programmes to phase them out by 1 June 2028. EU visa-free access has not been suspended, and these decisions cannot simply be blamed on Saint Lucia’s Venezuela policy. They do, however, show that the management of citizenship affects our wider diplomatic and economic relationships. (UK government, Irish government, Government of Antigua and Barbuda)
Our neighbours illustrate what strategic relationships can deliver. Guyana has deepened security cooperation with the United States amid Venezuela’s claim to Essequibo, while Trinidad and Tobago has pursued closer talks with Washington on energy, trade and security. Their circumstances differ from ours, and closer ties do not guarantee investment. They do demonstrate the value of pursuing a relationship with a powerful partner in service of clearly understood national interests. (Government of Guyana, Government of Trinidad and Tobago)
The wider Caribbean shows the scale of the opportunity in the American market. The Caribbean Tourism Organization estimates that the region received 16.8 million overnight tourist arrivals from the United States in 2024, nearly half of its 34.2 million international overnight arrivals. It separately recorded 33.7 million cruise visits from all source markets. Those cruise visits are a different measure and cannot be counted as U.S. stay-over tourists. (Caribbean Tourism Organization)
Individual destinations show how much of this market Saint Lucia has yet to reach. In 2024, the Dominican Republic recorded 3.32 million foreign air visitors resident in the United States; the Bahamas recorded 1.57 million U.S. stop-over visitors; and Aruba recorded 1.06 million U.S. tourist arrivals. Saint Lucia received 247,191 U.S. stay-over visitors. National definitions differ, and larger destinations have different airlift and capacity. The figures nevertheless show both the scale of American demand and the competition for it. (Dominican Republic Central Bank, Bahamas tourism statistics, Aruba Tourism Authority, Saint Lucia Statistics Department)
Saint Lucia’s clearest opportunity is tourism. Aruba received about 1.42 million total stay-over visitors in 2024, compared with 435,659 for Saint Lucia. We cannot copy another destination’s development model without regard for our land, infrastructure and environment. But the comparison raises a question: are we doing enough to compete for visitors and ensure that their spending benefits Saint Lucian households and businesses? (Government of Aruba, Saint Lucia Statistics Department)
The aim cannot be arrivals alone. Tourism is Saint Lucia’s largest source of foreign exchange and a major employer. Its value to our people also depends on what hotels and visitors buy from Saint Lucian farmers, manufacturers, guides, artists and professional firms. The more our businesses can supply the industry, the more of its earnings can circulate within our economy. (Saint Lucia Ministry of Finance, World Bank)
Being the best hosts does not mean being subservient. A people secure in who they are can welcome others on their own terms. We should take pride in our music, food, history, language and landscape, and in sharing them with the world. Hospitality at its best is an expression of Saint Lucian confidence. The question is whether Saint Lucians can own more businesses and benefit more fully as tourism grows.
But visitors’ confidence also depends on safety. On 10 July 2026, the United States raised its Saint Lucia travel advisory to Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution and added crime as a risk indicator. The advisory refers to violent crimes affecting visitors, including incidents at tourist resorts. Level 2 does not mean Americans are advised against travelling here. It does mean our largest source market is telling its citizens to exercise greater caution. Public safety matters first to the people who live here; it also matters to the future of our largest industry.
Border security and the integrity of our citizenship system raise similar questions of confidence. Can Saint Lucians and our partners trust that we know who enters and leaves the country and that every grant of citizenship withstands rigorous scrutiny? These are fundamental responsibilities of government, with consequences for our security, our passport and our relationships abroad.
My view is that Saint Lucia’s economic and security interests call for a closer, more purposeful relationship with Western partners. That does not mean agreeing with every Western decision. It means recognising the relationships on which our economy depends and judging each diplomatic choice by what it achieves for our people.
Ultimately, a head of government must be judged by whether decisions serve the people. Saint Lucians have a right to ask whether the government’s choices have left us safer, strengthened our access to opportunity and improved our ability to fund healthcare, education and infrastructure. If the Prime Minister acknowledges how hard it is to say no to Washington, what is his plan to build the trust and bargaining power needed to say yes on terms that advance Saint Lucia? And if he rejects that course, what alternative is he offering the people?