Guyana boosts ability to counter threats by joining regional security body

Guyana is boosting its ability to counter security threats by joining the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)’s Regional Security System (RSS), a regional body that comprises military and police personnel.

Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, via her Facebook page, announced on Tuesday that RSS member countries agreed to sign a protocol that will allow Guyana to become part of the RSS.

“While at the Inter-sessional in Belize, all of the Heads of Government of member states who were present, signed the protocol.

“Once the Heads of the remaining members sign the protocol, Guyana will be able to join the RSS,” Prime Minister Mottley stated.

Prime Minister Mottley, Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali and several Heads of Government of CARICOM are gathered in Belize for the Thirty-Third Inter-Sessional Meeting of Heads of Government of CARICOM.

At this meeting, the CARICOM Heads engage each other on a number of crucial matters relating to the safety and the development of the Caribbean region and its people.

And Prime Minister Mottley said that the Heads’ acceptance of Guyana in the RSS “is another example of regional cooperation and integration in action”.

For context, the RSS was created out of a need for a collective response to security threats, which were impacting on the stability of the region in the early 1970s and 1980s.

Member states include Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Kitts and Nevis.

According to its website, the RSS was traditionally concerned with traditional security threats of an operational nature, namely illicit drugs and arms trafficking and internal security. Given the dynamism within the international security environment, however, the RSS deals with wide- ranging security threats.

In 2020, a team from the RSS visited Guyana and assessed the Guyana Police Force (GPF)’s investigation on the brutal murders of 16-year-old Isaiah Henry, his cousin, 18-year-old Joel Henry, and 17-year-old Haresh Singh, all of Number Three Village, West Coast Berbice (WCB).

The team, according to President Ali, has made some recommendations for additional work to be done but in general, were satisfied with the efforts the police force.