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...
Carnage in the streets and the government’s response Ambassador Curtis A Ward (05 July 2024) — It’s hard for me or any well-thinking Jamaican to believe the Minister of National Security or the Commissioner of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) that crime is under control, or that there is a reduction in crime. The often-repeated positive statements which border on self-praise about progress in dealing with crime belie the facts about the intractable crime problem facing the...
We are not at war, but we are not safe Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (10 March 2022) –– Speaking as a Jamaican, we are not at war with any country, and we don’t expect to be. We are at war with ourselves. This reality is lived my many Jamaicans in their daily experiences. The high levels of crime, particularly homicide, and the wanton use of guns, put every Jamaican at risk. Some, because of the neighborhoods they live in are most vulnerable and are at greatest risk. They do not have...
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...
Constitutional Reform Is Dead…Or Is It? Rosalea Hamilton, PhD (06 May 2025)– On April 14, 2025, Nationwide 90FM reported that “Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness has accepted that the goal of transforming Jamaica into a republic at this time, has been dashed. The prime minister places the blame of the failure squarely at the feet of opposition leader, Mark Golding.” So does this mean that the Constitutional (Amendment) (Republic) Bill, 2024 to create a “Republic” that...
A New World Order —Trump’s America First foreign policy Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (05 April 2025) — President Donald Trump is leaving no doubt about his intention to use American military and economic superiority to not only change or dismantle world order but to dominate it. He hopes to replace world order by which multilateral and bilateral relations have been governed since World War II with an America First policy across all areas of human interaction. The intent is to destroy and...
Rubio’s visit to Jamaica, Guyana, and Suriname — what it means for the region Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (30 March 2025) – In his second trip to Latin America and the Caribbean, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made Jamaica his first country to visit in the English-speaking Caribbean. A bilateral meeting between Rubio and Jamaica’s prime minister Andrew Holness was first on the agenda. Why is that significant? Several reasons. Not only is Jamaica the largest English-speaking country in...
The Constitution Amendment Bill: Perpetuating an Undemocratic Jamaica Senate Rosalea Hamilton, PhD (24 February 2025) — The Constitution (Amendment)(Republic) Bill, 2024 tabled in Parliament on December 10, 2024 addressed, among other things, the composition of the Senate (s.7) as guided by the Final Report of the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) (May 2024). The Bill retains and expands an appointed Senate, consistent with the legislative objective to “retain the Parliamentary...
Ukraine v. Russia — Who gets to decide? Ambassador Curtis A. Ward (22 February 2025) –– President Donald Trump’s position on the Russia-Ukraine war, simply put, is ‘Putin gets what Putin wants.’ Trump’s complete U-turn on U.S. policy of holding Putin responsible for the illegal invasion and territorial aggression completely reverses US support for Ukraine and awarding Putin’s tyranny. The Trump-Putin discussions on the future of Ukraine are set in defiance of...
Finally, a Presidential Pardon for Garvey Ambassador Curtis Ward (23 January 2025) — On Sunday, January 19, 2025, President Joe Biden, on his final full day as president of the United States, issued a long sought after pardon for Jamaica’s first National Hero, the Rt. Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Acclaimed in civil rights history and literature as the first leader to organize Black populations in America and globally on a mass scale, evidence overwhelmingly suggests Garvey’s prosecution...
