00:00Ambassador Byron Blake, who served more than 35 years within CARICOM,
00:05describes the recent tensions involving Trinidad and Tobago as concerning.
00:11He tells the Morning Edition that the issue surrounding the reappointment of CARICOM Secretary-General Carla Barnett
00:18is only one aspect of a deeper underlying challenge within the regional body.
00:24The reappointment issue is a red herring.
00:27It is a screen for something deeper.
00:34And that is what Trinidad and Tobago needs to put on the table.
00:38Blake says Trinidad and Tobago cannot expect its concerns to be understood by fellow CARICOM leaders
00:45if there is no meaningful engagement stressing the importance of dialogue at the level of heads of government.
00:51Trinidad and Tobago needs to get back to the table and put its positions straightforwardly and honestly on the table.
01:23He also cautions that leaders should avoid publicly announcing positions that could take their regional counterparts by surprise,
01:33pointing to recent developments involving U.S. maritime bombing actions in Caribbean waters
01:40as an example of why coordination and communication are critical.
01:44So the absence of those legal processes would have presented Caribbean leaders generally with a problem.
01:59Now, the fact that the government of Trinidad and Tobago, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago said publicly that
02:09he did not have a problem with that,
02:13you see there's a division.
02:14He warns that the TNT must avoid isolating itself, cautioning that like the U.K. after Brexit,
02:22it could regret distancing itself from a regional bloc it may later wish to remain a part of.
02:29Nicole M. Romani, TV6 News.
02:32You already know what?
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