Trinidad opposes reappointment of CARICOM SG

Mar 27, 2026 News

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…signals cut in CARICOM funding

(TRINIDAD EXPRESS) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says she does not support the reappointment of Caricom Secretary-General Dr. Carla Barnett and that Trinidad and Tobago will be reducing its financial contribution to the regional group.

CARICOM chairman and St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew issued a statement yesterday advising that, during the CARICOM meeting in St Kitts in February, the “required majority” of CARICOM heads of government agreed to the reappointment of Barnett as Secretary-General, and her second term of office will begin in August 2026.

The Express contacted the Prime Minister yesterday and asked if she agreed with this reappointment. Her response was “no”. Asked if she was disappointed in the reappointment, Persad-Bissessar added, “CARICOM has been failing for 52 years and will continue to fail for the next 52 years. Trinidad and Tobago is not going to continue funding CARICOM at the current levels that we are ­providing.”

Asked what this country’s ­current financial contribution was, the Prime Minister said Trinidad and Tobago currently provides 22% of the regional bloc’s budget. Trinidad and Tobago is one of the major financial contributors, which aligns with CARICOM’s funding formula under which more developed countries pay a larger share based on economic size. The Express understands that T&T contributes between US$4 million and US$5 million annually to CARICOM. This country also provides additional financial assistance through regional development funds, energy-related assistance, and trade financing programmes.

T&T sends letter

The Express also contacted Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Sean Sobers and enquired about a letter that was sent to the CARICOM chairman, expressing concern about the process of Barnett’s reappointment. Sobers confirmed that a “self-explanatory” letter was sent yesterday, adding that Trinidad and Tobago disagreed with the manner in which the reappointment took place, as the country was not part of that exercise. “I am disappointed because I support the Prime Minister’s position in that we want a better and stronger CARICOM that should serve all the people, and we will continue working toward that,” he said.

Sobers said Trinidad and Tobago maintained its allegiance with CARICOM, as stated in its correspondence. The Express obtained a copy of the letter, in which Sobers pointed out to the CARICOM chairman that Barnett’s proposed reappointment was not placed on the provisional agenda for the Fiftieth Regular Meeting of the Conference and was also not discussed during the plenary sessions. It also noted that the current term of the Secretary-General was due to conclude on August 14, 2026, and formal communication on this had not yet been received. Sobers stated that during the retreat of heads of government on February 26, 2026, in Nevis, discussions reportedly took place ­regarding Barnett’s reappointment. He said it was a matter of record that Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, and The Bahamas were not allowed to participate in this retreat as representatives on behalf of their respective heads of government.

Consequently, Trinidad and Tobago was not privy to the deliberations on this matter, Sobers stated. Based on these issues, the minister said “we wish to place on record Trinidad and Tobago’s disagreement with the re-appointment of Secretary-General Barnett. We believe this was not done in the spirit and letter of Article 24 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) that states that the Secretary-General shall be appointed by the Conference, on the recommendation of the Community Council, for a term not exceeding five years, and may be reappointed by the Conference”. The letter concluded that Trinidad and Tobago remains committed to the revitalisation of the CARICOM Secretariat to ensure it is fit for purpose and addresses the needs of the people of the region.

Background

Without calling names, Persad-Bissessar voiced concerns about the CARICOM Secretariat when she attended the CARICOM meeting in St Kitts in February and addressed the opening ­ceremony. It was the first CARICOM meeting she attended since her election in April 2025.

The Prime Minister criticised the CARICOM Secretariat for its silence in 2022 when Trinidad and Tobago national Brent Thomas was “kidnapped” from Barbados, describing the matter as deeply “unsettling”.

She said the former People’s National Movement (PNM) government had “coordinated” the “kidnapping” from another CARICOM state using an RSS aircraft, adding that the court had ruled that Thomas had been kidnapped. As then-opposition leader, the Prime Minister said she wrote to the CARICOM Secretariat seeking answers but, to date, has received no response. Barnett was seated in the audience when Persad-Bissessar made her remarks. The Prime Minister suggested the lack of response could reflect poor management, lax accountability or, more troublingly, that one ceases to be recognised by the Secretariat as a CARICOM citizen when not in government. She said CARICOM must be a voice for all Caribbean people—not only governing parties.

At that meeting, Persad-Bissessar also made it clear that, while Trinidad and Tobago remained “vested” in the regional bloc, the country would no longer bind itself to the region’s political ideologies, foreign policy positions or security frameworks. Instead, she said T&T will craft its own foreign and security policies to defend its sovereignty as it sees fit. She also signalled that, while T&T supported regional ­movement in principle, the burden of illegal immigration prevented any further commitment at this time. Persad-Bissessar laid bare the issues she had with the regional body and criticised CARICOM’s “unreliability” in defending Trinidad and Tobago against threats from the former Nicolas Maduro administration in Venezuela.

She said it was the United States that stood with T&T and extended gratitude to US President Donald Trump. Tension among CARICOM states has been high amid Persad-Bissessar’s strong support for the US military presence in the region and her criticism of CARICOM as an “unreliable partner” over its collective silence when the former Maduro administration threatened T&T.

The Prime Minister held talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in St Kitts, following which she was invited to Trump’s Shield of the Americas Summit in Doral, Florida. Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana were signatories to a new coalition, comprising mostly Latin American countries, that agreed to collectively protect the hemisphere from drug cartels and external forces. Trinidad and Tobago also took action to expand its ties outside of CARICOM and applied for associate membership of Mercosur (Southern Common Market)—a South American trade bloc established in 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people and currency.

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• CARICOM, Dr. Carla Barnett, Kamla Persad -Bissessar, Secretary-General

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