Caribbean Community governments have begun to react to last week’s decision by the U.S. to pause processing of immigrant or permanent visas, with some urging locals to turn their home states into a local paradise while others hinted about simply being bullied by the U.S.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness was perhaps the most insightful, telling Jamaicans that the world has changed and that anti-immigration sentiments are rising in many corners of the globe.
He and the others were reacting to the announcement from Washington late last week that paused the visa processing for a dozen countries in the 15-nation bloc, barring Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname — all resource-rich countries flush with oil and gas. For Guyana and neighboring Suriname, the governments of these two nations had made no secret of their support for the U.S. military action against Venezuela and its fatal attacks on alleged drug-fetching boats, saying the time had come to fight organized narco trafficking, as well as human and weapons smuggling, among other crimes.
Surprisingly included in the visa pause were nations like Barbados, Belize and St. Kitts, where authorities argued that the visa overstay rate and dependency on U.S. welfare programs are negligible compared to other countries. Processing of normal tourist visas are continuing even though many applicants in the smaller Eastern Caribbean island nations say the rejection rate has skyrocketed in recent weeks.
Still, PM Holness wants Jamaicans to wake up to the new reality, urging them to switch focus to making the island a home paradise.
“The Jamaican public, I think, needs to understand that we are in a different era of geo-political, geo-economic, and geo-military politics and it requires a certain smart, a certain foresight and thoughtfulness to manage the process to keep Jamaica safe. There is a growing public view in many developed countries that you are seeing a growing public trend to stem immigration. We will pursue diplomatic channels but we are going to pursue even more making our country the place of choice to live, work, do business, raise families and retire in paradise. That is a greater objective and we must do,” he said, reacting to the announcement.
The pause affects citizens from the entire Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) sub-group, as well as Jamaica, Barbados, Belize, The Bahamas, and Haiti, and by extension restricts applications from Cuba and nearby Brazil until a permanent decision is made. It also comes after citizens of Dominica and Antigua were barred last month from applying for tourist visas, a development which has placed severe pressure on the two governments. The U.S. had cited high overstay rates and its discomfort with the sale of passports and citizenship to foreigners, citing their alleged inability to properly scrutinize the background of applicants.
Meanwhile, Antigua’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne said that while relations are good with the U.S., the federation with Barbuda is beginning to feel that it is being regarded as inconsequential.
“The relationship must be grounded in mutual respect. We’re not going to jeopardize that relationship, but at the same time, we should be able to pursue our own development without being threatened, or being ostracized, or for that matter, to be bullied or anything of that nature. We’re no longer an insignificant state. Antigua and Barbuda is now literally engaging in global advocacy on a number of issues,” he told a weekend radio program. “The U.S. is our most important trading partner, but we also have to ensure that we protect our sovereignty and our right to develop.”
Most of the other member states say they are engaging the State Department on the issue as Dominica and Antigua have been doing regarding the pause on tourist visas. Fitz Bramble, St Vincent’s foreign minister, urged locals not to feel the federation was being punished for any particular reason.
“It is important to recognize that St. Vincent and the Grenadines is not being uniquely targeted; rather, we are part of a broad administrative recalibration of U.S. border policy. We are one of 75 countries globally, and one of 12 Caricom members, included in this adjustment,” he said in a statement.
Regional leaders are due to meet in St. Kitts for the first of their two main annual summits late next month but officials say they are likely to caucus on the issue long before the conference.
Fleshing out the issue, Jamaica’s PM Holness said that efforts to ameliorate the situation will continue.
“We do have an obligation to pursue diplomatic channels, but we must always bear in mind that it is a sovereign decision by a sovereign country. We will use our diplomatic efforts to restore normalcy but bear in mind the position that we must build our own country. This is now reality. It is easy to say go and lobby but you also have to bear in mind that sometimes these things are called negotiations. What are you going to give, what are you going to get?”