Reginald Vidale, chairman of the Dr Eric Williams Memorial Committee, is pushing for the founding fathers of the regional integration movement, CARICOM, to be honored posthumously with the Caribbean’s highest accolade as the region commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Chaguaramas.
The Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC) is an award granted to “Caribbean nationals whose legacy in the Caribbean society’s economic, political, social, and cultural metamorphoses is phenomenal.”
The award was established at CARICOM’s Eighth Conference of Heads of State and Governments in 1987 and commenced bestowal in 1992.
Vidale said at a wreath-laying ceremony commemorating the 42nd anniversary of Trinidad and Tobago’s first prime minister’s death that the honor should also be offered to past presidents of Barbados, Guyana, and Jamaica.
He stated that they were the driving forces behind the formation of CARICOM and that they should be recognized throughout the Caribbean.
“They’ve earned it. “They laid a pillar in this Caribbean for Caribbean unity and Caribbean purpose, and as founding fathers, they must be given due respect, and I am not asking for it just because Dr Williams was one of the founding fathers; I am asking that they all receive the Order of CARICOM posthumously,” he said.
CARICOM was established on July 4, 1973, with Prime Ministers Errol Barrow of Barbados, Forbes Burnham of Guyana, Michael Manley of Jamaica, and Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago signing the Treaty of Chaguaramas.
CARICOM went into operation on August 1, 1973, and the other eight Caribbean territories later joined CARICOM. On July 4, 1983, the Bahamas became the Community’s 13th member state, however it is not a member of the Common Market.
Suriname joined the Caribbean Community as the 14th member state on July 4, 1995. Haiti was granted provisional membership on July 4, 1998, and became the first French-speaking Caribbean country to become a full member of CARICOM on July 3, 2002.
Vidale stated that the recent regional symposium on crime, which was attended by various Caribbean leaders, highlighted the founding fathers’ aim for cooperation in dealing with issues facing the Caribbean.
He stated that they would have preferred for the Caribbean integration effort “that CARICOM leaders come together when there is a problem to solve it collectively.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has urged for Trinidad and Tobago to join the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which was founded in 2001 to replace the Privy Council in London as the region’s final court.
“Other Caribbean countries are joining the CCJ one by one because even the most skeptical have seen the value,” Rowley said on Sunday at a “Family Day” event hosted by the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) in Toco, north east of here.
Despite having its headquarters in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago has only joined the CCJ’s Original Jurisdiction, which also serves as an international tribunal for the interpretation of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, and Belize are the only four CARICOM countries with both original and appellate jurisdiction under the CCJ.