Trinidad government spurns Barnett tenure past 2026 in stormy CARICOM rift

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who heads the government of Trinidad and Tobago, is holding her line as a widening rift pits her administration against the leadership of CARICOM Secretary-General Carla Barnett.

The Port of Spain leader stresses that her country is not walking away from the Community, but adds that once Barnett’s current assignment concludes in August 2026, Trinidad and Tobago will decline to treat her as the bloc’s legitimate chief officer.

Persad-Bissessar charges that Barnett’s fresh mandate was railroaded at a heads-of-government retreat hosted in Saint Kitts and Nevis earlier this year, contending that the file never appeared on the formal agenda and that her delegation was shut out of the decision loop.

Friction escalated after a combative, screen-based CARICOM summit last Friday at which, by most accounts, a clear majority of member governments backed Barnett’s extended stay while Trinidad and Tobago’s team pressed its dissent.

She has also levelled blame at CARICOM functionaries for sitting on paperwork tied to the renewal and asserts that Foreign Minister Sean Sobers was scratched from the guest list for the retreat after a WhatsApp note withdrew his invitation.

Amid the impasse, Persad-Bissessar still portrays Trinidad and Tobago as an active player in regional diplomacy, even as she maps out plans to widen export and investment channels beyond the Community, with India, Africa, South America, and the Middle East named among the target regions.