In times of crisis, the rise of CARICOM’s diplomacy: the case of the Venezuelan migrants within the Southern Caribbean

ABSTRACT This paper aims to serve as an exploration into the implications of the Venezuelan migration crisis into the South-Eastern Caribbean territories of Barbados, Grenada, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. This paper seeks to present an analytical report of the exercise of soft and economic diplomacy practiced by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) group. In the CARICOM Statement of January 2019, a call was made for ‘external forces to refrain from doing anything to destabilize the situation in Venezuela … which could have far reaching negative consequences for the wider region’. This paper seeks to use a geopolitical foresight methodology to examine these negative consequences ranging from the decimation of Caribbean trade as a result of military use of the Caribbean shipping routes, the continued ‘divide and rule’ over CARICOM by the United States Government as well as the decline in Caribbean Tourism receipts. A key question raised surrounds determining what is the capacity of several Caribbean Member States to simultaneously host Venezuelan migrants/refugees as well as participate in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME)’s Free Movement of Labour Regime.