In observance of the day, and as a prelude to the upcoming 39th Heads of Government Meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica, here’s a quote by CARICOM Founding Father, The Hon. Forbes Burnham, then Prime Minister of Guyana, on 14 August 1967, at the Officials Conference to plan for the implementation of economic integration:

Integrate or perish
“Either we weld ourselves into a regional grouping, serving primarily Caribbean needs, or lacking a common positive policy, have our various territories and nations drawn hither and tither into, and by, other large groupings, where the peculiar problems of the Caribbean are lost or where we become the objects of neo-colonist exploitation and achieve the pitiable status of international mendicants… This is the naked truth. Either we integrate or we perish, unwept, unhonoured.” – The Hon. Forbes Burnham, then Prime Minister of Guyana, on 14 August 1967, Officials Conference to plan for the implementation of economic integration