KINGSTON, Jamaica - It can't have been without compelling reason that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller decided to miss the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Chile, to which she has dispatched her foreign minister, Mr A.J. Nicholson.
CELAC, we remind, is a relatively new organisation, formally launched in 2010, as a forum for political dialogue between hemispheric states, but without the United States and Canada. In a sense, it is seen by many as something of a counterpoint to the Organisation of American States, a grouping in which America's influence is dominant, to the point of constraining the will and independence of action of the majority of members.
Time will tell if these two institutions can coexist, with each remaining relevant, within the same political space. However, the early signals for the proponents of CELAC - of which Jamaica is to be counted - seem positive.