Sat | Oct 18, 2025

CARICOM underscores need to maintain Caribbean region as a 'Zone of Peace'

Published:Saturday | October 18, 2025 | 4:36 PM
The CARICOM Secretariat said the heads met and discussed various issues on the regional agenda including the increased security build up in the Caribbean and the potential impacts on Member States.
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The CARICOM Secretariat said the heads met and discussed various issues on the regional agenda including the increased security build up in the Caribbean and the potential impacts on Member States.

Amid US military strikes against vessels in Caribbean waters, CARICOM Heads of Government have reiterated their continued commitment to fighting narcotrafficking and the illegal trade in small arms in the region, but say efforts to overcome these challenges should be through ongoing international cooperation and within international law.

In a statement on Saturday, the CARICOM Secretariat said the heads met and discussed various issues on the regional agenda including the increased security build up in the Caribbean and the potential impacts on Member States.

However, it said Trinidad and Tobago reserved its position on the issues.

CARICOM said the heads of government reaffirmed the principle of maintaining the Caribbean region as a Zone of Peace and the importance of dialogue and engagement towards the peaceful resolution of disputes and conflict.

CARICOM said it remains willing to assist towards that objective.

The heads also reportedly reaffirmed unequivocal support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries in the region and the safety and livelihoods of the people of the region.

There have been calls for a CARICOM position on the US strikes as well as a request from the United States to Grenada to establish a radar listening post on that island to support its operations.

The recent US military action against vessels in the region have killed at least 29 people.

US President Donald Trump has justified the strikes by asserting that the United States is engaged in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels.

However, to some legal scholars, Trump's use of such military force against suspected drug cartels, along with his authorisation of covert action inside Venezuela, possibly to oust President Nicolás Maduro, stretches the bounds of international law.

Two Trinidadian men were allegedly among those killed when the United States bombed a small vessel in international waters near the coast of Venezuela earlier this week.

Trinidadian Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar has said that she is “happy that the US naval deployment is having success in their mission,” and that “the pain and suffering the cartels have inflicted on our nation is immense. I have no sympathy for traffickers; the US military should kill them all violently."

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