Ruffled feathers plucked and wings clipped

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in the Caribbean last week with great expectations and much fanfare, but also amid disgruntlement.

Whenever senior foreign diplomats, such as secretaries of state, pay any country a visit, it is always about securing the interests of their nation and advancing geopolitical causes.

When former State Secretary Hillary Clinton landed in Jamaica in 2010, she was on a mission to expedite the extradition of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke and deliver a stern warning to then Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

Recently, when President Donald Trump levelled threats of visa revocation and the imposition of tariffs, he was reasserting the power of the US in the region in the face of spreading Chinese tentacles.

Trump knows that visa revocation is like shock waves ripping through the political, commercial, and upper classes of Caribbean societies. The threat of losing their US visa has always forced third-world politicians and their friends to readily comply with US demands.

Both Cuba and Venezuela are seen as geopolitical hindrances for the United States, but a major source of help for the Caribbean, infusing critical support to struggling regional economies and easing the healthcare and energy burdens for their over 15 million population spread.

The very popular and super generous Cuban medical mission and the purchase of crude oil from Venezuela have been lifesaving operations sustaining cash-strapped CARICOM nations against global economic shocks. Caribbean states have been bleeding profusely from the continual migration of healthcare and other professionals to the United States and other first-world countries.

While Trinidad has oil deposits, CARICOM has never been able to pin down any reasonable discounts on purchases from the twin-island republic. However, Venezuela, mainly through the Petro Caribe agreement, provided a buffer zone to CARICOM against the rising cost of crude in the global marketplace.

Interestingly, Trump’s mouthpiece to reinforce his visa-revocation-tariff warning happens to be a son of Cuban immigrants. His parents and grandparents left Cuba in pursuit of the American Dream.

Despite his Cuban roots, Marco Rubio does not hold any soft spot for Castro’s country. It is believed that he was drawn to public service in large part because of conversations with his grandfather, who was a witness to the Cuban revolution and was staunchly resistant to the communist regime. His father worked as a banquet bartender, while his mother split time as a stay-at-home mom and hotel maid. Rubio was raised on the rough side, and was taught to be passionate about the American Dream and aspired to attain it in full.

As Trump’s mouthpiece, Rubio was tasked with laying out the president’s regional agenda exactly as it was given to him. High importance must be placed on rubbing out the footprints of China in Jamaica and other Caribbean states. Trump’s bid to purchase the Panama Canal would also require CARICOM support.

The heavy flow of crude oil discovered in Guyana has the US salivating at the mouth with the hope of cornering the regional market and wrestling it from the favourable Petro Caribe grip of Venezuela.

US oil giant ExxonMobil is the largest foreign agency involved in Guyana’s oil boom. This company is the operator of the Stabroek and Canje Blocks offshore, with Hess Corporation, another US entity, also having a significant stake. 

Venezuela, with its soft loan arrangement to its Caribbean neighbours, keeps oil prices affordable and is a direct competitor to US interests in Guyana.

The US is also determined to keep Haitians off its shore and preferably in Haiti.  Refugees, especially of African descent, fleeing gang violence must be kept at bay, and every effort must be made to get Caribbean states to play the role of regional police in this regard.

Former State Secretary Antony Blinken visited Jamaica in May 2024 to participate in Haiti-related “Kingston Talks” at that time and said exactly that.

When the United Nations’ Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Jamaica in 2021, the same message was on his mind, as he coerced Prime Minister Andrew Holness to send troops to join Kenyans in this mission.

Secretary-General Guterres whispered sweet nothings as he paid tribute to Jamaica’s ability “to invade peacefully the whole world, with its culture, its music, and its art.” He was pretty much focused on Jamaica as a cultural superpower, blessed with the capabilities to influence the world, beginning with telling the Haitians to behave and stay at home.

Never mind the fact that Holness has not been able to keep Haitians off Jamaica’s shores, as boatloads arrive intermittently and are repatriated overnight on each occasion.

Nevertheless, Holness is the man of the moment. In March 2019, when Trump sought to divide the Caribbean by inviting selected leaders to meet with him at Mar-a-Lago during his first term as president, Holness was among them.

In March 2022, Holness travelled to Washington to meet with former Vice President Kamala Harris, where she presented him with US$30 million to help with security and youth empowerment programmes. 

Holness has proven to be a man who will cooperate with global leaders and do as he is told. The US sees him as an ally, a man willing to stand against Cuba, Venezuela, China, and even Haiti, if instructed.

The US Secretary of State had a meeting with Holness last Wednesday after both met and exchanged greetings and a firm handshake at Jamaica House. Secretary Rubio was also scheduled to have bilateral engagements with leaders from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Haiti during his two-day stay in the region. Visits to Guyana and Suriname were also planned as he advanced President Trump’s US foreign policy priorities in the Caribbean.

Based on the prophetic message from the intercessors, there will be some interesting developments in Jamaica in the weeks ahead stemming from the meetings with PM Holness.

The US has agreed to review its position on the level three travel advisory against Jamaica in light of the reduction in the murder rate and will give further thought to its position on the Cuban medical mission.

Be sure of this: these concessions came at a hefty price. Who will tell Jamaicans what concessions were made in their name by their elected representatives?

Feathers have been ruffled, some will be plucked and wings are to be clipped. Interesting times ahead. The roller coaster and the topsy-turvy have merged, and we have entered the year of the winds.

Pray for Jamaica.