Tillerson’s Jamaica visit will divide CARICOM, Unless… Ambassador Curtis A. Ward While Secretary Rex Tillerson’s scheduled visit to Jamaica has been received with some level of scepticism, any visit by a U.S. Secretary of State to Jamaica should be welcome news. Ordinarily, such visits are expressions of good working relationships, and often used to strengthen ties even further. On the other hand, there are also visits by U.S. Secretaries of State which are triggered by disagreements on...
Conversation with Earl Jarrett – CEO of JN Group and Chair of Jamaica 55 Diaspora Conference 2017 Ambassador Curtis A. Ward, Host – CaribNation TV (20 Sept. 2017) — In a wide-ranging conversation on the role and importance of the Jamaican Diaspora to Jamaica, Mr. Earl Jarrett, CEO of JN Group, who was chairman of the Jamaica 55 Diaspora Conference 2017, provided an approach which should find resonance with members of the Diaspora; and which offers specific ideas for the way...
P.J. Patterson, In His Own Words – Interview with CaribNation TV I sat down as CaribNation TV Host with the Most Honorable P. J. Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica at his New Kingston Office in Jamaica in July 2017 for a conversation which covered a broad range of issues. This conversation with the former Jamaican Prime Minister occured while the Jamaica 55 Diaspora Conference 2017 was underway at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston, attended by over a thousand Jamaicans...
Implementing the U.S.-Caribbean Strategic Engagement Act Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (21 July 2017) — As pointed out by Representative Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, in his opening remarks at the Committee’s hearing on implementation of the U.S.-Caribbean Strategic Engagement Act of 2016 – Public Law No: 114-291 (the Act) on July 19, 2017, having received the U.S. Strategy for Engagement in the Caribbean (the Strategy) report submitted...
Caribbean Response to COVID-19 Conversation Hosted by Ambassador Curtis Ward for CaribNation TV and The Ward Post Special Guests: Dr. Joy St. John, Executive Director, Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA); Dr. Douglas Slater, CARICOM Assistant Secretary General – Human and Social Development; Professor Dr. Clive Landis, Chairman, University of the West Indies COVID-19 Task Force This discussion explores the many important ways Caribbean regional institutions are...
Caribbean Diaspora aroused demonstrating discontent Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (04 December 2019) — Discontent within Caribbean diaspora communities is growing in intensity. To most governments in the region, peaceful demonstrations on the streets far removed from the homeland are viewed as non-threatening and inconsequential, thus easily ignored and dismissed. But they should take heed! What they see is only the tip of the iceberg. Traditionally, diaspora’s passionate patriotism has...
Collateral Damage from Trump’s Actions Destabilize Caribbean Countries Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (13 May 2018) –In just under 16 months of President Donald Trump’s administration, actions taken by the American president are sending shock waves across the Caribbean and the world. Unintended consequences – collateral damage – from U.S. actions threaten to destabilize the fragile economies and security of Caribbean countries. The Trump storm is creating new dynamics in geopolitical...
Tillerson’s Jamaica visit will divide CARICOM, Unless… Ambassador Curtis A. Ward While Secretary Rex Tillerson’s scheduled visit to Jamaica has been received with some level of scepticism, any visit by a U.S. Secretary of State to Jamaica should be welcome news. Ordinarily, such visits are expressions of good working relationships, and often used to strengthen ties even further. On the other hand, there are also visits by U.S. Secretaries of State which are triggered by disagreements on...
Trump’s security assistance cuts and Pompeo’s Jamaica promises diverge Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (25 February 2020) — On the 10th anniversary of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), former president Barack Obama’s signature security assistance partnership with the Caribbean, president Donald Trump’s Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) budget cut proposal undermines the bold promises made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his recent visit to Jamaica. Even as Pompeo was in...
Questions I would have asked Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (29 Nov. 2018) — As a Host of CaribNation TV, I requested an interview with Jamaican Prime Minister the Most Hon. Andrew Holness to take place during his visit to Washington DC from November 25-29, 2018. With the expectation that I would have the opportunity to sit down with the Prime Minister, I was asked to submit the subject areas for the interview which I provided in great detail. I was...
Trinidad & Tobago Faces Terrorist Threat Ambassador Curtis A. Ward It came as no surprise when news broke that U.S. intelligence services had warned the Government of Trinidad & Tobago (Trinidad) of plots to carry out terrorist attacks during Trinidad’s Carnival 2018 celebrations. Trinidad has been vulnerable for years and successive governments have failed to undertake necessary and timely action to ensure that the country has in place appropriate laws, and administrative and...
Tribute to the late Hon. Ambassador Dr. Richard L. Bernal, O.J. By Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (09 January 2023) –– Jamaica and the Caribbean, indeed the international community, lost a human being who was a superlative diplomat, an exceptional economist, a skilled writer and impactful author, and a great friend of the Jamaican diaspora community across the United States. His laser focus on Jamaican and Caribbean development led me to collaborate with him on several issues. I met Dr...
January 6 Committee Report & the U.S.-African Leaders Summit vie for the headlines Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (20 December 2022) — Washington is a very busy place, and I could have chosen any combination of issues on which to provide brief perspectives for this episode of The Washington Report. I selected two issues on the busy Washington calendar which have major future implications for America and for hundreds of millions of people around the world. The two issues selected are the...
Challenges to democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean: the Trump effect Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (26 November 2022) — Brazil’s losing President Jair Bolsonaro is engaged in a very dangerous game in his attempt to subvert democracy in perhaps one of Latin America’s and the world’s most important emerging economies. Bolsonaro, one of Latin America’s leading autocrats, by denying the outcome of the presidential election which resulted in the victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da...
Defining Venezuela Policy: A Critical Analysis Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (30 October 2022) – Questions I am often asked to answer are: What is the United States Venezuela policy? What is Jamaica government Venezuela policy? Is Jamaica’s Venezuela policy tied to or dictated by Washington? In the past five to six years, U.S. policy on Venezuela has become one of the most contentious issues in Western Hemisphere affairs. This is an issue which has created the greatest level of division in...
Jamaican Police as Heroes and Heroines Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (22 October 2022) –– At a time when serious crimes are out of control, and Jamaica notoriously viewed as among the homicide capitals of the world, it is perhaps anomalous, and probably bordering on illogical to say the men and women of the Jamaican Constabulary Force (JCF), more specifically the rank and file, are heroes and heroines. But I unabashedly say they are. Before you conclude I have lost my mind, read on! I...
Citizen Apathy and the Pillars of Democracy Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (15 September 2022) –– I begin by positing that democracy is endangered when citizens fail to be vigilant and engaged in the political process, by failing to demand of government they elect high standards of transparency and accountability. This is not a new position for me, as I have for quite some time used my platforms to advocate for broad civic participation and engagement, and against citizen apathy. I will...
