The 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government got underway on Tuesday with regional leaders focusing on regional unity.

The four-day CARICOM summit, taking place from February 24 to 27, convenes leaders from across the Caribbean Community for high-level discussions.

Talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio are also on the schedule.

Speaking at the Opening Ceremony, Trinidad and Tobago’s Kamla Persad-Bissessar called out her regional counterparts for their silence in the face of threats from Venezuela against Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago last year.

“How can the CARICOM be a zone of peace when a narco dictator who imprisoned and killed thousands of civilians and opposition members…was released from prison because of politics? So how can it be when that regime was threatening violence to two CARICOM member states that there was no voice from CARICOM

Persad-Bissessar emphasised that while every country has the sovereign right to determine its own national security and foreign policy, CARICOM must serve as a collective voice for all member states — not only those aligned with governing administrations.

“I want to reaffirm that the CARICOM should be the voice for all not just for the governing parties, not just for those In the Caribbean who form part government parties,” she asserted.

She meanwhile expressed support for cooperation with the United States on security matters.

In fact, the Prime Minister highlighted efforts by US President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to tackle narco-trafficking and related smuggling.