Ja: Patterson to Caricom, cover my back

JAMAICA yesterday urged its Caribbean Community (Caricom) partners to hold ranks on the Haiti issue as Prime Minister P J Patterson signalled that he has no intention of engaging in a diplomatic spat with Barbados over Jamaica's decision to host deposed Haitian leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

But Patterson also disclosed that his foreign minister, K D Knight, notified Caricom governments, as well as the United States and Canada, about the Aristide visit on March 11 - five days before his arrival.

"In accordance with the principles by which the Community has been guided, it is essential to our unity of purpose (on the Haiti issue) be maintained and that there be total cohesion on all fronts," Patterson said in a statement.
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The prime minister's remark was an obvious response to media portrayal of remarks in Bridgetown by Barbados' foreign minister, Billie Miller, that she was informed "after the fact" about Jamaica's decision to allow Aristide to come here for up to 10 weeks.

"This is clearly a matter between the government of Jamaica and Mr Aristide but there are clear implications for us..." Miller said in the Barbadian parliament.

So, who's telling the truth here? Patterson or Miller? If Patterson had informed Caricom partners of Aristide's impending visit 5 days before it occurred, then, clearly, the Barbados government is at fault for not conveying the information to Foreign Minister Miller. However, one wonders to whom Patterson's office conveyed the information? Was it directly to PM Arthur, or to FM Miller? Or, did PM Patterson forget to inform the Bajans, in the heat of the moment, in the excitement of arranging Aristide's departure, er, visit? The question still remains: what did Barbados know, and when did Barbados know it? Or, more comprehensively, what did Caricom know, and when did Caricom know it? Does PM Patterson's chairmanship of Caricom mean that when he knows a thing all of Caricom also knows it ... by osmosis?

Is Caricom thinking to side with the socialist bloc, consisting of many countries in South America in alliance with Cuba, to the detriment of its relationship with the U.S. out of some fear that the U.S. might destabilize the countries in the region? If that is the case, then Caricom is caught between Scylla and Charybdis. On the one hand is the U.S., free-trading and capitalist, promoting democracy and human freedom. On the other hand is the socialist bloc chock full of drug cartels, terrorists, human rights abuses, unlawful imprisonments, tortures of citizens, poverty, suppression of individual rights. It is a tremendously difficult choice to make. Perhaps, this question can help: can Caricom countries afford socialism or communism?