History of the Caribbean Community
Integration has always been at the nucleus of our existence as a Caribbean Community. In the seminal 2005 publication titled, CARICOM, Our Caribbean Community: An Introduction it is recorded that the Windward Islands – Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent, and Tobago (until 1889) – were governed by the Windward Islands Federation during the period 1833 to 1958. Similarly, the British governed Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Montserrat, and St Kitt-Nevis-Anguilla under the Leeward Island Federation from 1871-1956, with Dominica shifting to the Windward Island Federation in 1939. About five years earlier, leaders in the labour movement started discussing the idea of a West Indies Federation.
History credits T.A. Marryshow of Grenada, commonly hailed as the Father of Federation, and A.A. Cipriani of Trinidad and Tobago for championing a federation drafted by and for West Indians. The publication informs readers that the labour and social agitations of 1937 raised the decibels several notches for a West Indian Federation. The West India Labour Congress, and later, the Caribbean Labour Congress led the call. The Congress met in June and November 1938 in British Guiana and Trinidad, respectively to prepare for discussions with the Moyne Commission that had been established by the British government to determine the causes of unrest among the West Indian colonies. One of the recommendations emanating from the Labour Congress was for a Federation of the West Indies based on full internal self-governance with adult suffrage.
Post-World War II was a defining moment for the Anglophone Caribbean, in terms of self-governance and integration prescribed by West Indians for West Indians. Two years after the War ended, West Indian leaders across the political, labour, and community development spectra came together in Montego Bay, Jamaica, to ruminate over the future of the Region in the post-war era. Themed the Closer Association of the British West Indian Colonies, the Conference laid the foundation for a federation, but the West Indies would have to wait for the manifestation of the self-determination that those early regionalists envisaged.
Britain accepted the idea of a larger federation, but only under its control. History records that it guided negotiations of the process which began in 1953, outside the Region (in Great Britain), and excluded the wide group of stakeholders which were involved in the Montego Bay Conference. The talks mainly involved political leaders, who differed in opinion about it. Some leaders hoped the 1958 West Indies Federation would provide a vehicle for the political independence of the grouping members. Others like George Price of Belize and Cheddi Jagan of Guyana, abstained from participating, convinced it was not the best alternative for their territories.
Ten territories signed on to the Federation which was established by the British Caribbean Federation Act of 1956. These were:
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Barbados
- Dominica
- Grenada
- Jamaica
- Montserrat
- (then) St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla
- Saint Lucia
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
The short-lived Federation was wrought with problems ranging from the governance structures to disagreement about taxation and central planning. Another contentious issue was the unwillingness on the part of most territorial governments to give up power to the federal government. The final straw in its controversial existence was the withdrawal of Jamaica in 1961. During its brief existence from 1958-1962, the Federation created the West Indies Shipping Service which operated the Federal Maple and the Federal Palm; consolidated tertiary education with the University College of the West Indies, now, The University of the West Indies, opening a second campus in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago in 1960.
CARIFTA
The demise of the Federation in 1962 inspired political leaders to forge ahead with the original idea – a union prescribed by and for West Indians. That spirit of determination to construct a tangible integration product guided the leaders of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, and British Guiana to define the ideals for cooperation in the Dickenson Bay Agreement. In December 1965, they formalised the Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA).
It came into being in May 1968, with the participation of:
Antigua and Barbuda,
Barbados
Guyana
Trinidad and Tobago
CARIFTA was built upon a people-centred model of integration that endured to CARICOM. Its primary mission was the fulfilment of the hopes and aspirations of the people of the Caribbean for full employment and improved living standards.
Leaders formed CARIFTA to optimise the use of human and other resources to accelerate sustained economic development, and to trade among member countries. In the spirit of true regionalism, in December 1965, they agreed to delay implementation to allow other countries to consider membership. Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, the then St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines entered on 1 August 1968 and in May 1971, British Honduras (Belize) joined.
Enhanced trade among states was a core focus of CARIFTA. Leaders worked to increase, diversify, and liberalise trade and safeguard fair competition. CARICOM, Our Caribbean Community: An Introduction details that intra-regional trade grew from EC$95.7 million in 1967 to EC$ 298 million in 1973, an expansion of more than 100 per cent. During CARIFTA, trading in manufactured goods was free of import duties and quotas. The 1968 Agricultural Marketing Protocol, which encouraged trade in agriculture in CARIFTA, and the establishment of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in 1969 were part of the policy and institutional mechanisms that spurred economic growth and development among member countries.
Transition to CARICOM
Several factors led to the transformation of CARIFTA into the Caribbean Community and Common Market. Leaders wanted to strengthen existing areas of cooperation and expand into new ones. External developments concerning the future of preferential trading arrangements brought additional pressures for leaders to strengthen regional integration. At their meeting in Chaguaramas in November 1972, they reached the landmark agreement to transform CARIFTA into the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM).
The process was set out in the April 1973 Georgetown Accord which enveloped the draft treaty. There were two agreements of the treaty- one establishing the Caribbean Community, and the Annex setting out the details of the Caribbean Common Market. These two agreements were signed separately. They allowed Member States to be members of CARICOM, without being members of the Common Market. On 4 July 1973, in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago, four Prime Ministers signed the treaty establishing the Caribbean Community and Common Market – the Treaty of Chaguaramas. The date 4 July was chosen to honour Norman Manley, a leading advocate of the West Indies Federation and one of Jamaica’s national heroes. By May 1974, all members of CARIFTA became members of CARICOM. The Bahamas, Suriname, and Haiti formally became members of the Community in 1983, 1995, and 2002 respectively.