• by IPS Correspondents (georgetown)
• Wednesday, December 21, 1994
• Inter Press Service

GEORGETOWN, Dic 21 (IPS) - The regional integration movement Caricom is congratulating itself on a year well spent pointing to achievements such as the restoration of democracy in Haiti and the establishment of a wider Caribbean trade and cooperation grouping.

Caricom secretary general Edwin Carrington said Wednesday that the highpoint of an eventful year for the region had to be the signing in July of the convention to establish the 40 nation Association of Caribbean States (ACS).

The ACS which encompasses all the countries bordering the Caribbean Sea, is to be the fourth largest trading bloc when it comes into force.

"It is a critical crossroads between North and South America and indeed between the western and eastern part of the globe," Carrington told reporters here.

Carrington said the Caribbean could also pat itself on the back over its contribution to the restoration of democracy in Haiti. In September, a U.S.-led military force entered Haiti to restore Jean- Bertrand Aristide to the presidency, some three years after he was ousted in a military coup.

Caribbean countries have contributed a contingent of just over 250 soldiers as part of the U.S.-led multinational force.

"Indeed I gather it has been the unit which has been most accepted by the Haitian people contrary to certain fears which we had," he said.

Regional governments have agreed to send a ministerial team to Haiti early next year and to establish a joint Caricom mission there.

But despite all the backslapping, regional political observers have not given the governments high marks for their performance in these spheres this year.

The governments have been villified throughout the year for failing to take the initiative in the Haiti crisis, abdicating their regional responsibility and leaving it up to the major powers in the hemisphere such as the United States to solve the question of the return of Aristide.

Caricom might be pleased with the summit that set up the ACS but only Trinidad and Tobago, the proposed site for the headquarters of the new grouping, has ratified the convention, expected to come into force on Jan. 1, 1995.

Carrington also said the Summit of the Americas, held earlier this month, provided the Caribbean with another significant success story.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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