Trinidad’s current row with its Caribbean neighbours over U.S. policy towards international narcotics trafficking, besides Venezuela, boiled over into a full-scale verbal war on Friday, 10 April ’26. The Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, demanded the exit of CARICOM’s secretary-general after her term ends in another 4 months by August.
Regional tensions previously called for the Caribbean to remain a ‘zone of peace’, but Trinidad & Tobago’s PM dismissed the label as ‘zone of peace fakery’. The PM threw her support behind U.S. military strikes, besides the Trump administration’s broader campaign against international drug trafficking & organised crime.
The PM has now turned her focus to CARICOM’s general operations. She demanded that Secretary-General Carla Barnett step down once her 5-year term ends in late August ’26.
After winning Trinidad’s general election a year back, she has used her platform to push for Barnett’s removal. The PM reminded leaders gathered that Trinidad pays around 22% of CARICOM’s annual budget. That percentage works to around USD 20 million.
The PM has repeatedly expressed her administration’s deep dissatisfaction with the bloc’s present operations. She argued that she remains puzzled as to why the region aligned with Venezuela & its former president Maduro’s narco-government through the fake zone of peace narrative. She made this statement in late 2025 while the U.S. was preparing for action against Maduro. This was when governments complained about the alleged illegality of the deadly boat strikes led by the U.S.
The dispute has since expanded beyond foreign policy into institutional conflict within CARICOM itself. The Trinidadian leader has called for the removal of Secretary-General Carla Barnett at the end of her term, arguing that the organization has failed to reflect Trinidad and Tobago’s strategic priorities, despite its significant financial contributions to the bloc. This move prompted an emergency CARICOM meeting, underscoring the severity of the rift.
Her relentless monthslong campaign against the bloc & its chief executive had compelled the emergency meeting on Friday, 10 April to discuss Barnett’s reappointment.
