News Americas, NEW YORK, NY., Thurs. Jan. 23, 2020: Mike Pompeo, on his first Caribbean visit as U.S. Secretary of State, yesterday insisted in Jamaica that “there’s no intent from the United States to divide CARICOM.”
“… not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow,” he added when asked during a press conference alongside Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness in Kingston.
The secretary of state’s response came on the heels of comments from Barbados Prime Minister and chair of the Caribbean Community, CARICOM, that the US it seems, is seeking to divide the region and the grouping. She was later supported by Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister and leaders from Grenada and Antigua.
Both T&T and Barbados skipped the meeting that was attended by leaders from The Bahamas, Belize, The Dominican Republic, Haiti, St Kitts and Nevis and St Lucia.
Pompeo insisted that the US wants “all the countries of this region to prosper and be successful.”
“We know that countries in this region will agree with the United States on certain positions from time to time and disagree with us from time – that’s true for Jamaica as well it’s true for many of the folks that I’ll visit with this afternoon,” he noted, while adding but “we want to invite them all to be part of the economic prosperity, security zone that is this region.”
IMPEACHMENT
The Secretary of State meanwhile, insisted he would testify in the Senate impeachment trial against President Trump if compelled by law but said he has not been following it.
VENEZUELA
Pompeo also commended Prime Minister Holness for quote” standing up to the illegitimate destabilizing Maduro dictatorship and its brutal repression of the Venezuelan people.”
“PetroCaribe is fading into the sunset, as the Maduro regime itself will do,” he later added in a speech titled: “Toward Closer U.S.-Caribbean Ties.”
Pompeo also reiterated his support for the current OAS Secretary General, a staunch anti-Maduro advocate, noting: “We’ve made that clear because we think he has demonstrated his ability to return financial stability to the institution and return this institution to a really important place, a really important place for all member states of the OAS.”
