US State Secretary Marco Rubio pose with CARICOM Heads of Government for a group photo, Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis, February 25, 2026. Photo: Freddie Everett/US Department of State.
By Wayne Kublalsingh – Feb 27, 2026
Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar’s understanding of the word “oxymoron” in her February 24 CARICOM address appears to have momentarily slipped. An oxymoron is a statement which appears contradictory, but on closer examination is not. In her speech in St Kitts, she declared, “We cannot advocate for others to live under communism and dictatorship, but we want to live here in our CARICOM region under democracy and capitalism. That’s an oxymoron. It’s a contradiction for ourselves.”
But an oxymoron is not a contradiction. Perhaps the PM really meant contradiction, for she seems to have self-corrected. But if contradictions ought not to be tolerated, why is the speech so contradictory? Here are some contradictions.
The PM inveighed against the “involvement” of CARICOM states in the political campaigns of other states. She claimed that in 2025, her own political party was a victim of election interference. She condemned, “CARICOM governments and their political parties who actively involve themselves into the domestic and political affairs of member states. The sister or brother parties cannot then expect that when we come together that we must hug each other.” Yet, on January 25, 2019, whilst in Opposition, she rose in Parliament to announce, “We’re preparing to join with the Venezuelan people and the free world in recognising Juan Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela.” This was two days after Trump, in his attempt to overthrow the Venezuelan government, declared that he recognized non-elected Juan Guaidó as leader of Venezuela.
The PM declared, “Despite repeated threats against two fellow CARICOM members from Venezuela, most of the CARICOM stood against the two who were threatened.” CARICOM did not take a stand against Guyana or Trinidad in the 2023 Venezuela/Guyana dispute. Barbados PM Mia Mottley invoked the Zone of Peace doctrine, warning the parties against confrontation. She “played a key role alongside other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders in facilitating high-level dialogue between Guyana and Venezuela to de-escalate tensions over the disputed Essequibo region. In December 2023, Mottley was among the regional leaders who met with President Irfaan Ali of Guyana and President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which led to the signing of the Argyle Declaration.”
Additionally, the Venezuela/Guyana dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo arose in 1899 and is the subject of an ongoing International Court of Justice process. The threat was two-directional. The Bolivarian Government threatened to invade the Essequibo as the Guyanese government began to accommodate US oil corporations, ExxonMobil and partners, in waters off the disputed region. Pre-empting the court process, and populating the region with US corporations, and the possible encampment of CIA and US military was, in Venezuela’s view, untenable.
And at what point did Venezuela threaten Trinidad? On October 25, 2025, the National Assembly of Venezuela declared that Persad-Bissessar was persona non grata. This was after she supported the US war build-up against Venezuela, US extrajudicial boat attacks, and ceded TT’s territory for war use. As a war collaborator and co-belligerent, ceding TT land, air and seas for war use, Trinidad had made itself liable in the event of a US attack.
Taking her lead from US authorities, the PM has continually and aggravatingly called President Maduro a “narco-terrorist.” But the main allegation in support of this claim, that he was head of the non-existent Cartel de Los Soles, was dropped by US prosecutors. Despite this, in her speech, the PM called President Maduro “a narco-dictator.”
In condemning the Cuban government, the PM counterpointed “communism and dictatorship” with “democracy and capitalism”: “We want to live here in our CARICOM region under democracy and capitalism.” She added, “To partner with the US is not to undermine the Caribbean region but to defend it.” First, CARICOM has never proposed not partnering with the US on anti-narcotic and security matters (SOFA). Second, she skipped the fact that her partnership with the US precipitated many unlawful atrocities against Venezuela. Third, since 1962, the UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly and democratically in favour of the “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.” (UN Report). In 2024, the vote was 187 against the embargo, with only the US and Israel voting for it.
Finally, the PM declined to consider that under the aegis of US “democracy” and capitalism, millions of people have been slaughtered or enslaved: the genocide of native peoples, centuries of African slavery, and all manner of warmongering, assassinations and regime-change operations, particularly in North and South East Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean. And that imperialism and democracy constitute a contradiction, cannot co-exist.
CARICOM Urges Collective Action To Support Cuba Amid US Pressure
In September 2025, the People’s Republic of China granted the Persad-Bissessar government TT$94 million for mutually-agreed projects. Since Communism is intolerable, will the PM abort the projects, return the grant, and cease relations with the Communist nation?
Equally intriguing was the PM’s claim that the US military presence has reduced TT’s murder rate by 42%. In other words, in the four months since the US warships entered the Caribbean, “There were 257 less murders in T&T. I can say thanks again to President Trump and thanks again to Secretary Marco Rubio.” Is this figure factual?
The PM denounced CARICOM’s call for a Caribbean/Latin American Zone of Peace. She wilfully forgets that this doctrine constitutes a principle. An anti-imperialist defence. A status to be vied for. Instead, she lauds imperialists Trump and Rubio. The former, to the thrill of her supporters, she will meet on Saturday, February 28. And the latter, she met privately at the CARICOM forum. To discuss what?
Whilst calling for the right to “defend our [TT’s] sovereignty,” Persad-Bissessar has foolhardily converted herself into a Trump puppet—and compromised Caribbean and Latin American sovereignty to imperialism. On February 14, Rubio stood up before Western European leaders in Munich, Germany urging them to join the US to recolonize the planet—to resounding applause from the historical imperialists.
WK/OT
