Diplomacy with a dragon

THE TONE adopted by Marco Rubio in his talks with Caricom leaders in Jamaica on March 26 is in striking contrast to what otherwise passes for US diplomacy these days.

Donald Trump’s White House has turned its back on allies. It has waged tariff war with Canada. It has expressed disdain for Europe. It is fighting with Greenland and Denmark.

Mr Rubio, respected as a foreign policy hawk before becoming US Secretary of State, has, at times, sat awkwardly amid the chaos.

In Kingston, he admitted the completely incompetent and incomprehensible addition of a journalist to a group chat on war plans – of which he was a part – was a “big mistake,” while other Republicans deflected. His place often seems tenuous.

Nonetheless, Mr Rubio’s round of diplomacy is a good thing in a bad situation.

An important offshoot of that effort is the decision, announced by Prime Minister Stuart Young on March 27, to align this country with the US designation of a Venezuelan gang, Tren De Aragua, as a terrorist organisation.

While Mr Young has asked Mr Rubio for evidence that would justify such a move, there is already some factual basis on which it might proceed.

A July 2024 report of the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime suggested Venezuelan gang activity has been encroaching on TT, including as it relates to extortion, human trafficking and the smuggling of drugs and guns through “straw purchasers.”

The report did not highlight Tren De Aragua, but it named other Venezuelan entities, noted the “embedding” of those entities into local gangs, and paid some attention to the overlap between gangsterism and extremist ideological groups here.

Suggesting further that the path may be clear for Caricom’s decision in February to deem gang violence “acts of terrorism.”

Formally deeming a person or an entity as a terrorist would not require parliamentary action, but, rather, an application to a judge under the Anti-Terrorism Act. As of February, hundreds of such designations have already been ordered and published. But application to a gang, local or foreign, would seem unprecedented.

Even so, this matter should be carefully weighed across partisan lines given the imminence of the general election, the risk of diluting the law, as well as the potential for abuse.

Of concern should be how the Trump administration has openly targeted or smeared immigrants, even some lawfully resident under Joe Biden’s financial sponsorship scheme. The expansion of detention at Guantanamo Bay has raised alarm bells.

There is irony in the deeming of certain immigrants as criminals given Mr Trump’s pardoning of insurrectionists. Mr Rubio has offered positions. But his boss, with the stroke of a pen, could undo all.