Terrorism and the Caribbean: A warning (Part 2)

Our geographical disposition provides many challenges the likes of which Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) cannot deal with on their own. We are plagued with high rates of unemployment and crime. The guns, ammunition, drugs, human trafficking and smuggling trades and cybercrime are transnational in scope and increasing. The corruption of public officials, illegal migration and overburdened resources fighting the COVID–19 pandemic, all serve to make the region very vulnerable and most suited for radical indoctrination by terrorist organisations that have the ways and means of putting money in the hands of at-risk youth. Political leadership does not, in many cases, provide the trust factor necessary to positively guide populations and provide for their safety and security. They present, in the minds of our youth, as being more divisive than unifying.

Civil unrest, population dispersals out of Haiti and Venezuela, situations that CARICOM seems powerless to address, the increasing number of direct flights out of Europe, Asia and Africa, and differing standards in the Citizens by Investment Programmes, numerous soft targets, all help to make the Caribbean the next best breeding ground and focus for extremism.

CARICOM approved its Counter-Terrorism Strategy in 2018. In its development, the then-executive director of CARICOM IMPACS had this to say: “Terrorism presents a clear and present danger to Caribbean people and industries, including tourism. We’ve agreed to be resolute in our collective stand.”

Major General Edmund Dillon, then minister of national security of Trinidad and Tobago, at the same conference stated: “The development of CARICOM’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy, as a roadmap identifying how the region should address the issue, isn’t only timely but crucial for its survival.” He went on to say, “CARICOM countries must seek to criminalise and penalise acts of terrorism by nationals and non-nationals in a coordinated manner and regional anti-terrorism legislation must be equally stringent and consistent.”

Where is the strategy today?

Enshrining provisions in law, as a few states have done, is one thing. Enforcing the law and ensuring the relevant lead agencies have the capacities and capabilities to protect a nation’s assets through proactive and at the very least reactive measures, are essential requirements. Improving the means of accessing, processing, and disseminating information/intelligence on a national, regional and international level, in a timely manner, is the most crucial of needs when faced with the superior financial resources and networks of criminal terrorist elements.

This is our best deterrent.

Understanding that the “chain is as strong as its weakest link” and ensuring that we help one another, further strengthens CARICOM’s strategy in the protection of its borders. We have to stop being individualistic in our approach to regional and international issues and become unified in an approach that speaks to the safety, security and stability of the Caribbean. The US’s failure to do this brought it to its knees by way of 9/11. CARICOM must learn from that experience.

St Vincent, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Trinidad, the Dominican Republic had government websites hacked by persons claiming to represent ISIS during the period 2012 to 2015. Hacking is no longer unusual in the Caribbean and financial crimes, such as ‘Ponzi Schemes’, are prevalent, providing easy financing for illegal ventures. Now there are cryptocurrencies gaining favour in the absence of proper regulations. Drug trafficking and financing continue virtually unchecked. Opportunities for terrorist financing abound.

THE FOCUS

As pointed out by the then St Lucian minister of national security, Hermangild Francis, in an address to the members of the St Lucia Chamber of Commerce (2017), “We do not have the exact numbers of ISIS fighters returning to their countries but we know that between 150 and 400 of these individuals, especially from Trinidad and Tobago, have returned.” The focus has been on Trinidad, (but) is the region able today to say how many persons left the Caribbean to fight with ISIS, how many have returned and where they are today, and how are they surviving? What are the plans for their resocialisation?

Reindoctrination of our citizens is a priority of governments if they are to be reintegrated in our society today. We should not focus on those returning from overseas only, existing Caribbean populations must be educated on the dangers of terrorism.

Programmes must be designed to bring our people up to speed. Faith-based institutions have been far too silent on this matter. They need to be more outspoken in their position against using religion as a tool of violence and destruction. They must demonstrate that they remain viable systems for winning souls, developing and maintaining acceptable belief systems for the betterment of humanity.

Charting a course for building resilience to the doctrine of extreme violence and awareness is paramount for our governments; judiciaries; private sectors; tourism industries; education systems (schools/tertiary institutions); prisons, and religious institutions, to highlight a few areas. It is time that those nations with National Security Strategies apply their provisions as opposed to treating them as another “good to have political achievement”.

What has been decided on paper must be transformed to appropriate operational capacities and capabilities, through the use of contingency planning and this must be inclusive of citizens. This is not a task for governments only, it involves everyone but it is essential that our leaders lead, whether they be in the public or private sector.

The matter of treating with at-risk groups is critical. This is the focus of terrorist recruitment, and here the efforts of extremist organisations must be denied. One is minded of a recent initiative by the Nigerian government in addressing youth recruitment by Boko Haram, the ISIS-affiliated organisation severely disrupting life in Nigeria. The government is providing free vocational training for all at-risk youth, allowing them to explore opportunities from which they could make a legitimate living and provide for their futures. This reduces the influence of terrorist groups and solidifies legitimate societal development.

Many countries in the Caribbean can benefit from such investment in our youth. We should establish a centre for researching the high propensity for violence and attraction to extreme radicalisation, among our people. With the potential to become a “breeding ground” for extremism we should move with alacrity to establish the facts so we can treat with the problem before it becomes full blown.

After gaining Independence from the UK, that country has long since stopped pretending to be our saviour, the US has many challenges of its own and can no longer be the protector of the democratic world, our future therefore is in our hands and depends on the course we will now chart. Many of our leaders will have a good laugh, having read this article but having laughed, spend a moment and think of what your reaction is going to be when the next terrorist attack reaches our shores and you would have done nothing to prevent it.

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