Dear Editor,

October will bring winds of change across the Caribbean Sea. Barbados, Belize, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica will become the first in Caricom’s modern history to launch full free movement of people, a landmark decision decades in the making.

This bold step, coming not a moment too soon, signals the long-awaited ignition of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), a vision born from regional unity and deeply rooted in the ashes of colonial fragmentation.

As the United States tightens its immigration policies, the time is now for the Caribbean to come home to itself.

The Caribbean Community (Caricom) was formally established in 1973 with the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas. It brought together countries with shared colonial histories, languages, and aspirations under one banner. The CSME, a cornerstone of this integration, was designed to allow for the free movement of goods, services, labour, and capital.

Yet more than 50 years later the full promise of that treaty remains partially fulfilled. The CSME was not merely a trade arrangement, it was a pledge to our future, a poetic idea that the scattered islands of the Caribbean could function like a singular, sovereign archipelago of strength, not separation.

But this dream has been held hostage by invisible walls. Non-tariff barriers, hidden economic hurdles, such as administrative requirements, import licensing, and health and safety regulations have stymied inter-island trade and movement.

Poultry from one island is blocked from another by questionable regulations, stifling commerce and trust alike. Meanwhile, protectionist instincts from some governments and private sector players have kept borders psychologically and economically closed, despite treaties to the contrary.

Yet the reasons to finally open the floodgates of cooperation have never been more urgent, or more poetic. Caricom’s own documents outline the full benefits of integration: economic resilience, climate cooperation, food security, cultural collaboration, and collective bargaining power on the global stage.

These aren’t abstract hopes, they are lifelines in a world bracing against climate collapse, economic volatility, and global food insecurity. Consider agriculture: Belize is seeking to boost sugar exports to fellow Caricom states, and Guyana remains one of the region’s great rice suppliers.

Jamaica, rich in resources, could see its rum, coffee, and spring water flowing freely across markets once reserved for distant shores. With barriers removed, these products would circulate not just as goods, but as symbols of self-reliance and Caribbean excellence. Our vision must stretch beyond customs declarations and export certificates.

Imagine a Caribbean connected by underwater trains and protected by its own weather satellites.

These dreams demand unified funding, will, and vision but, most of all, movement. Movement of minds, people, engineers, and ambition.

Visa restrictions to vital partners like China are also slowing the Caribbean’s growth and diversification. Business leaders have warned that such policies are retarding commercial activity and slowing the flow of mutual investment, particularly for Jamaica.

The tightening of immigration laws and crackdown on undocumented Caribbean nationals send a clear message: The region cannot continue relying on emigration as economic relief. The door is closing.

That is why the decision of Barbados, Belize, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Dominica is not just political, it is prophetic. They are leading us to what the founders of Caricom saw in their hearts and etched into history. Their October implementation of full free movement is the signal flare that the time of delay is over.

Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and others must now follow, not with hesitation but with harmonised legislation, public education campaigns, and infrastructural preparation.

The stars are aligned, the warnings are clear, and the time is now for one Caribbean, one destiny.

Horatio Deer

horatiodeer2357@gmail.com