US Wants Closer Ties with Caribbean as Part of New Western Hemisphere Dynamic

United States (US) Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, says his Administration is interested in rebuilding and constructing a new dynamic in the Western Hemisphere, including strengthening partnership with Caribbean nations on common issues.

He was addressing a meeting with CARICOM leaders on Wednesday (February 25), during the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in St Kitts and Nevis.

Mr. Rubio said the US Government wants to work more closely with the Caribbean in tackling transnational criminal organisations, which, he noted, is the most urgent security threat in the region.

He said that many of these organisations are fueled by narcotrafficking and other illicit means, with “funding and power that rival if not exceed many of the nation-states that they threaten”.

“We’ve also watched with alarm the level of armament that these groups have. We recognise that many of these groups are buying weaponry from the United States, and we are committed and continue to work very hard with our law-enforcement agencies to shut that down,” Mr. Rubio declared.

He highlighted recent situations in Haiti and Mexico to underscore the devastating impacts that criminal organisations can wreak on nations.

Mr. Rubio affirmed that the US and the region have “a long history of working together on responding to these challenges, but I think our cooperation will have to grow even deeper and our commitment to it will have to grow even stronger because these groups grow stronger”.

The US Secretary of State further pledged the US Government’s commitment to ensuring the broader economic stability of the region.

“To the extent that there are opportunities for American businesses or American investors to be a part of that, we want to facilitate that. We want to be a part of making that happen,” he said.

He pointed out that stronger, safer, prosperous and secure CARICOM nations will lead to a stronger, safer, more secure, and prosperous United States.

“We view our security, our prosperity, our stability to be intricately tied to yours, and we are going to evidence that in the actions we’re prepared to take and in the priority that we want to give this our intent to follow through on it,” Mr. Rubio affirmed.