Winston Anderson | Should CARICOM Day be a Caribbean national holiday?

In July 2021, the question was posed in The Gleaner: Why is CARICOM Day not a national holiday throughout the Caribbean? Five years later, in July 2026, the issue arises again for consideration by our Caribbean policymakers.

THE FOURTH OF JULY

On July 4, 1973, four visionary leaders - Errol Barrow of Barbados, Forbes Burnham of Guyana, Michael Manley of Jamaica, and Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago - signed the Treaty of Chaguaramas, creating the Caribbean Community. In so doing, they laid the foundation for what remains the most ambitious experiment in regional integration undertaken by small developing states anywhere in the world.

That date is more than a historical footnote. It is the birthplace of the Caribbean Community and, therefore, the midwife of our claim to regionhood. And to our being one out of many.

Public holidays are rarely only about the past. They are moreso about the present and the future. They provide societies with the opportunities to reaffirm shared values, preserve a collective memory, and cultivate a sense of belonging and continuity across generations. Independence Days, Republic Days, Emancipation Days, and other national observances perform this function in countries throughout the world. They remind citizens not only of what occurred on a particular date but also of why and who they are as a people.

The Caribbean Community remains in the unusual position of possessing many of the attributes of a single economic space while lacking a single day for public reflection upon that communal space. We have common institutions, common legal heritage and arrangements, shared educational structures, and an increasingly integrated economy. Yet we do not pause collectively and simultaneously to celebrate the regional project that made those achievements possible.

The observance of CARICOM Day would help fill that space.

Communities are defined not only by our territories and institutions but also by our symbols, traditions, and rituals. Their sustainability requires moments through which citizens can recognise themselves as participants in a common enterprise. The observance of a regional CARICOM Day would provide such a moment. It would draw a boundary not in geography but in time, setting apart one day each year where we reflect upon the Caribbean endeavour and the aspirations that continue to animate it.

On July 4 this year, the United States celebrates 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. While Americans gather annually on July 4 to celebrate the birth of their nation, we in the Caribbean have an opportunity on that same day to reflect upon the birth and evolution of our regional community.

A PROJECT ACROSS GENERATIONS

The leaders who gathered in Chaguaramas on July 4, 1973, understood that regional integration would be the work not of a few years but of many decades. The responsibility for advancing that vision, therefore, passed from one generation of Caribbean leaders to the next.

The work begun by our founders was carried forward by leaders such as P. J. Patterson, Basdeo Panday, Owen Arthur, and Bharrat Jagdeo, who helped encourage economic integration and strengthen regional institutions. More recently, leaders including Kenny Anthony, Patrick Manning, Ralph Gonsalves, and Mia Mottley, have continued to champion regional cooperation while adapting the integration movement to contemporary realities.

CARICOM, therefore, is not the achievement of a single generation. It is the shared inheritance of many.

THE ACHIEVEMENTS
OF INTEGRATION

A regional holiday would provide an annual opportunity to reflect on how far we have travelled and how much further we still have to go.

The Caribbean Community has endured and matured through changing administrations, economic turbulence, natural disasters, and shifting global realities. It has done so because the idea at its heart remains compelling: that cooperation among Caribbean peoples, despite their different ancestries, achieves greater welfare, security, and prosperity.

The entry into force 20 years ago of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and the creation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) represented the maturation of that vision. Today, Caribbean nationals enjoy opportunities unimaginable to earlier generations. Citizens can travel freely across the Community, establish businesses, provide services, pursue employment opportunities, and invest beyond the borders of their own States.

The movement towards full free movement of CARICOM nationals continues to advance. Each step in that direction reinforces a simple but powerful idea: that a Jamaican, a Dominican, a Vincentian, a Kittitian, a Barbadian, a Trinbagonian, a Guyanese, or a Belizean is not only a citizen of a particular State but also a citizen of the Caribbean Community. The CARICOM passport is a powerful symbol of that unity.

The institutions of regional integration have, likewise, become among our greatest strengths.

The University of the West Indies has educated generations of Caribbean leaders, scholars, professionals, and public servants. The Caribbean Examinations Council has developed qualifications recognised throughout the region and internationally. The Caribbean Development Bank has financed development across Member States. The Caribbean Public Health Agency has enhanced our collective public-health response, and CDEMA has managed relief efforts across the region in times of disaster.