KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, says the island will benefit from becoming the first Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to hold the pro tempore presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
“And to the extent that those who want to think of these activities as transactional, which they are not, St. Vincent Grenadines will benefit enormously from being the president pro tempore of CELAC,” he added.
Prime Minister Gonsalves leads a delegation to Venezuela on his first official visit as the CELAC pro tempore President. The panel includes St. Vincent and the Grenadines coordinator for CELAC, Dr. Douglas Slater, and Information Officer at the state-owned Agency For Public Information, Shevrell “Candy Man” Macmillan.
While in Caracas, Gonsalves is scheduled to meet with President Nicolas Maduro and the Venezuelan Foreign Minister to discuss bilateral issues and CELAC matters. He said the visit was at Maduro’s instance, and discussions will be held to advance a proposal for developing a Caribbean institute for science, knowledge, and technology for CELAC.
“I want to hear his more detailed proposal, at least the framework, a more detailed framework,” Gonsalves said.
“About CELAC, all the administrative arrangements have been put in place, the work plan, within the context of the declaration of Buenos Aires, all those are being elaborated, and lots of communication with different countries and areas on matters touching CELAC and those countries.”
St. Vincent the Grenadines was elected at the CELAC seventh summit in Argentina last month, and Gonsalves speaking on a radio program here, said that the island’s Commissioner of Police, Colin John, should be pleased to know that the declaration issued after the summit includes a special resolution on small arms, sponsored by Mexico.
“Small arms are not just short arms, but also assault weapons. The ease with which they get out of the United States and for us to set up the mechanism to help to track them and so on. That’s an important issue for us. Well, for the whole of Latin America,” said Gonsalves, the National Security Minister.
He said the top seven countries in the world with rates of homicide per 100,000 persons are Latin America and the Caribbean.
“Of course, the top seven countries with the lowest rates of suicide are also in Latin America and the Caribbean, including St. Vincent and Grenadines. So, that’s a critical issue for us — the arms issue for us to deal with,” he said.
Gonsalves said he wants St. Vincent and the Grenadines to advance the issue of air and sea transportation “because if we have to link our civilizations, the Latin American and Caribbean civilizations, we have to be able to transport goods, we have to be able to transport people.”
He said that CELAC had established a disaster fund, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Mexico, and Argentina had already made their contributions.
“I want to encourage all the countries to contribute to this fund,’ Gonsalves said, noting that Kingstown is the chair of the fund. He contrasted it to the one set up under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
“There’s talk about a fund. But they haven’t set up the fund or say a fund exists, but no money exists. Well, a fund is not a fund; nonetheless, it has money,” Gonsalves said.
“The noun’ fund’ relates to money inside of it. So, it’s that simple. You can’t abuse language and say you have a fund because you declare you have a fund. But we set up a fund. Sometimes, people don’t like when we talk this way, but you can’t — if you do violence to language, you do violence to common sense.”
Gonsalves said that when CELAC meets with the European Union later this year or with the United States or China, “we say, ‘well, here nuh, we have a fund. Where is your money? Where is your fund?’
“We are setting up one. The good Lord helps those who help themselves, and we must help ourselves with this. And this could be something compelling.”
Gonsalves said that he had raised with the Mexican foreign minister during a bilateral meeting and made the point on the CELAC Summit of providing airlift to Caribbean countries in the immediate aftermath of natural hazards.
“When Barbuda was blown away ([by Hurricane Irma in 2017), many people wanted to get out of {because the place had been decimated. They couldn’t get out of Barbuda very easily. You needed a helicopter, a military helicopter, to move people. And for the first 48 hours, there was a problem,” Gonsalves said, adding that St. John’s eventually got a military helicopter from Venezuela.
“But Mexico has those facilities; Brazil has those facilities. They’re also nearby,” Gonsalves said, adding that St. Vincent and the Grenadines can benefit from such an arrangement if the country’s north is cut off and the seas are raging.
“So, we have to prepare for eventualities for things like these. You see what I’m talking about? dealing with practical problems,” Gonsalves said, adding there are matters touching and concerning university education, as discussed with Argentina, and technical assistance in football from Brazil.
Gonsalves said four CELAC nations — Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras — have large populations of Garifuna people, whose ancestral home is St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
He said the declaration issued after last month’s summit included a paragraph addressing the question of reparatory justice for the enslavement of African bodies.
“So that is part — you strengthen this campaign. And we in St. Vincent have to be doing more in that regard, and we in CARICOM,” Gonsalves said, adding that this will be discussed at the CARICOM meeting in the Bahamas this month.
“I know people are saying, but how small St. Vincent and Grenadines are going to do this thing,” Gonsalves said, adding that this question was posed at a press briefing in Buenos Aires after his island was elected the President of CELAC.
“And it’s a provocative question, and it’s a question on the minds of those doubting Thomases. And I said … size is not the issue — organization, ideas, and leadership.
“And I said, we have demonstrated all of those things, St. Vincent and Grenadines, time and again,” he said, noting SVG’s 2019 presidency of the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the country’s two-year stint as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
“I said, ‘look at our record, and you will see that we performed with distinction,'” Gonsalves said, adding that St. Vincent and the Grenadines will work with all the countries in CELAC to fulfill the mandate of its presidency.
“As I said on the floor of the CELAC meeting, we will do this collegiately. We are leading, but it will be collegiate not only for CARICOM but also for CELAC.
“You may well see one or two CARICOM countries sending persons and paying for them to come to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but we are going to have persons whom we will communicate within the other countries who are part of our Secretariat, and we connect with them through how you connect with people through modern communications….”
Gonsalves said that some CELAC nations have also offered to host some elements of the CELAC secretariat in their capitals.
“What benefit is this going to bring to St. Vincent and Grenadines? If all that I have said you don’t think will benefit St. Vincent and the Grenadines, well, you’re blind, either by the visitation of God or by malice. You’re blind. You know, that’s the only way I could say that …
“Many people in this world know the price of everything but the value of nothing. I want that to resonate in your head …
Gonsalves said the EC$1.2 billion (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) budget Parliament approved for 2023 contained a nominal sum for the island’s CELAC presidency because his government needed to know whether the bid would have been successful.
“Now, we will address that normally within the Finance Administration Act. And I had already discussed this with the Minister of Finance with Cabinet colleagues and the Director General of Finance and Planning,” Gonsalves said.
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