Dear Editor,

The leaders of these countries name above were invited by US President Donald Trump to meet with him at his mansion in Mar-A- Lago last weekend and it is no doubt connected to their support for his ‘regime change’ policy in Venezuela.

It is noticeable that the other Caricom members were not invited, which could be seen as the typical ploy of ‘divide and conquer’.

The unity of the Caricom nations is under threat.

The invitees will, no doubt, affirm their allegiance to their imperial neighbour to the north, forgetting that not too long ago this same man described their countries as “s**thole[s]”.

If they expect to get some goodies they must realise that they are too small and poor to be of any economic and geo-political importance to Trump. They don’t have oil and gold like Venezuela, and there is no military base to offer, like Colombia.

For decades the Caribbean region has been neglected by the US while they suffer from high debt-to-gross domestic product ratios. This has opened up opportunities for economic support from Venezuela and China.

Furthermore, the world is breaking up into independent regional trading blocs with their own banking systems so that they can enjoy the advantages of foreign direct investment, economies of scale, competition, trade effects, and market efficiency.

President Trump will no doubt consider the five Caribbean leaders as members of his ‘Coalition of the willing’ with a view to playing off one against the other and obstructing China’s advances in the region. But, in return for their fealty, besides the promise of more economic aid, it is questionable how much more goodies he will be willing to offer them.

Lastly, the best course for all the Caribbean countries is to unite and strive to become an integrated self-reliant bloc, instead of opting for a course that subjects them to existing in a state of dependency at the hands of China or the US.

Victor A Dixon

Boynton Beach, Florida, US

victoradixon@yahoo.com