Go Lean…Caribbean

Go Lean Commentary

Do you remember when …?

Why not? It was such an important event that you should never forget. And yet!

This is the current situation today for a country that is a Caribbean neighbor: Venezuela. Atrocities are happening there and we, as observing-reporting neighbors have done nothing and now propose more of the same: 

Inaction.

This is the formula, the recipe, for creating a Failed-State:

 “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” – Edmund Burke; 1729 – 1797; an Irish statesman and member of British Parliament.

How can we forget?!?!

The recipe of good people … doing nothing to prevent atrocities is what was prevalent in Nazi Germany, Rwanda, Bosnia and many other troubled spots – Failed-States – in modern times; (see Appendix D below). Despite all of our pledges of “Never Again“, we now see it happening again; this time in Venezuela; see VIDEO in Appendix C below.

In a previous blog-commentary by the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – it was related that …

… unless mitigated, Venezuela will become a Failed-State. We hope that the country, and their South American neighbors, can secure their society to assure peace and the protection of human rights.

In fact, the Go Lean commentary had observed-and-reported on a number of negative developments regarding Venezuela; see this sample list of previous blogs here:

The situation in Venezuela is dire –  see VIDEO in Appendix C below – action must be taken to abate the downward spiral of the societal engines there. There is something the Caribbean community can do to help mitigate the threats.

There are new Caribbean-Venezuela developments … happening now (last week actually):

Proposals for more of the same … inaction.

See the news articles in the Appendices (A & B) below. The overall theme from the articles is that government leaders in the formal Caribbean Community (CariCom) want to not disturb Venezuela’s sovereignty and further these leaders oppose any entity – i.e. the Organization of American States or OAS – that may want to condemn the status quo and ruling class in Venezuela.

Say it ain’t so CariCom!

Venezuela is near-Failed-State status; lives are being lost; economic systems are dysfunctional and people are taking flight, seeking refuge in foreign countries; see VIDEO below. Despite these conditions, CariCom – who weld some power and influence through peer pressure – wants Inaction.

We object!

Down with CariCom …
Time for a change …
Time to reboot the Caribbean …

This is the declaration of the book Go Lean…Caribbean; this book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. The book posits that CariCom is a failure (Page 3) and that the quest for regional integration in the Caribbean needs a new – and better – expression. The book therefore presents the Go Lean/CU roadmap with these 3 prime directives:

• Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
• Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
• Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The book stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions and actions to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. To prevent atrocities, there must be actions, positive engagements, before and after; see Appendix D below.

To political leaders like Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Go Lean movement gives this salutation (Page 252):

[Step aside]. Thank you for your service. Change has come.

We must do this: change from the inaction of the current political leadership and lean-in to this roadmap to re-boot, reform and transform the Caribbean region.

Yes, we can act and help prevent atrocities in our region and make our own homeland better places to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation. 

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Appendix A – Gonsalves warns CariCom of plot against Venezuela

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines has cautioned the Caribbean Community (CariCom) to refrain from allowing a small group of powerful nations to dilute the collective strength of the 15-member regional grouping.

Gonsalves, in a three page letter to CariCom leaders, that was circulated to the media, warned that a wedge is being driven through CariCom over a plan for regime change in Venezuela and the group of powerful nations with the Organisation of America States (OAS) has an agenda of naked self-interest.

He said the group has strategically invited select CariCom countries to their meetings and ignored the others. In the result, they have succeeded in disuniting and weakening CariCom countries whose only strength lies in our solidarity. This worrying development has been particularly manifest in matters relating to Venezuela, said Gonsalves in a letter dated May 10.

There is clearly a calculated strategy in place by a group of nations to achieve regime change in Venezuela by using the OAS as a weapon of destruction, he added.

Gonsalves said while CARICOM countries may have concerns about the political, economic and social conditions in Venezuela, we are all sufficiently seasoned political leaders to know that toppling a government will not end those conditions, particularly when there is no viable, electable single alternative to replace it.

Resolving the conflict
He acknowledged that CariCom member states could have a role in promoting dialogue to help resolve the conflict in Venezuela he warned fellow regional leaders against allowing themselves to be ambushed into breaking our solidarity and aligning ourselves with fair-weather friends.

Meanwhile, representatives from 18 OAS member states have approved a meeting of foreign ministers scheduled for May 31 in Washington to discuss the Venezuelan crisis.

In recent weeks, there has been growing unrest across Venezuela, with several killed and others injured as they have called for elections, freedom for jailed activists, foreign humanitarian aid to offset the economic crisis, and autonomy for the opposition-controlled legislature.

Source: Posted May 17, 2017; retrieved June 7, 2017 from: https://www.iwnsvg.com/2017/05/17/gonsalves-warns-caricom-of-plot-against-venezuela/

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Appendix B – St Vincent PM praises CariCom on position taken on Venezuela
By: Peter Richards

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves has praised Caribbean Community (CariCom) countries for acting “with independence, courage and concerted action” during the Permanent Council meeting of the Organisation of American States (OAS) called to discuss the situation in Venezuela earlier this week.

In a two-page letter sent to the Irwin La Rocque, secretary general of CariCom, Gonsalves said that the “CariCom stance is a tribute to our region’s commitment to the highest ideals of our Caribbean civilisation and of its institutional expression, politically, the independent and sovereign nation-state”.

He said that through its position at the OAS, CariCom countries have honoured the names of “our revered leaders of yesteryear” including Errol Barrow of Barbados, Forbes Burnham of Guyana, Michael Manley of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago’s Dr. Eric Williams “whose respective countries defied the edict of a hegemonic neighbour in their formal diplomatic recognition of revolutionary Cuba in 1972”.

In his letter, which was copied to heads of state and governments in CariCom and obtained by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), Gonsalves said he was “humbled and proud of the majesty of CARICOM’s united stance in defence of the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states; the bedrock ideas of sovereignty and independence (and) the nobility of the fundamental precepts of representative democracy”.

During the OAS meeting, Jamaica, for example, called for dialogue among all parties in Venezuela, where opposition-led street demonstrations to force the Nicolas Maduro government out of office have resulted in more than 40 deaths and a split among members of the OAS.

Jamaica’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Kamina Johnson-Smith, addressing the 29th Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs at the OAS in Washington earlier this week, said the Andrew Holness government is “gravely concerned by the continued deterioration of the situation in Venezuela”.

She cited increased violence, loss of life, damage to infrastructure, severe economic hardships for the people, and “a hardening of deeply entrenched positions by both Government and opposition groups…

“Jamaica continues to highly favour meaningful dialogue and discourages the isolation of Venezuela. We, therefore, invite the Government of Venezuela to reconsider that decision,” Johnson Smith added.

On Wednesday, Trinidad and Tobago called for the removal of the OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, over his non-neutral position on the political situation in Venezuela and warned the 15-member CariCom grouping of the possibility of destroying “itself as an honest broker with respect to any involvement in assistance to Venezuela and its internal problems…

“Trinidad and Tobago registered a strong objection to the behaviour of the OAS leadership. The public servants from the OAS took it upon themselves to engage the Government of Venezuela, the president in fact, in a very derogatory manner,” Prime Minister Keith Rowley told a news conference on his return from an official two-day visit to Chile.

Last month, CariCom foreign ministers called for non-interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela.

Gonsalves, who had last month had cautioned CARICOM to refrain from allowing a small group of powerful nations to dilute the “collective strength” of the 15 member regional grouping on the Venezuela issue, said in his letter to La Rocque that he was “heartened that CariCom member-states are alive to the maneuverings of those who would wish to deliver Venezuela and its oil on a platter to a handful of global enterprises, who are focused on their own greed, duplicity, and narrow self interest….

“We know the road very well. But CariCom has taken the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference,” Gonsalves wrote, adding, “I do not underestimate the current travails of Venezuela and I am pleased that CariCom is prepared to play a facilitating role, along with other countries and leading personalities in fostering peace, dialogue and constitutionalism in Venezuela”.

But he acknowledged that “at the end of the day, this is a matter for Venezuelans themselves”.

Gonsalves said that he is “sure that the overwhelming majority of nation-states, globally, are pleased with CariCom’s stance at the OAS.

“We must now allow our unity and good sense to be put asunder. Now more than ever we must remain firm. The enemies at the gates of non-interference, sovereignty, and independence will not rest; indeed, they will redouble their efforts. They will raise aloft, hypocritically, any number of high-sounding phrases but beneath them are base motives. History has taught us all this, and more.

“I am confident of CariCom’s continuing embrace of independence, courage, and concerted action, remembering always that, of all time, only the future is ours to desecrate. Our Caribbean civilisation must never be engaged in the desecration of our future,” the St. Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister wrote.

Source: Posted June 3, 2017; retrieved June 7, 2017 from: https://www.iwnsvg.com/2017/06/03/st-vincent-pm-praises-caricom-on-position-taken-on-venezuela/

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Appendix C VIDEO – Exclusive Interview on Venezeula: “We’re Being Ruthlessly Killed by the Venezuelan Gov’t” – https://youtu.be/qwPZ75_rj0k

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Appendix D – Preventing mass atrocities – An agenda for policymakers and citizens

Introduction ………………………………………………………. 1

Early warning ……….. ………………………………………….. 3

Detecting risk and promoting action

Diplomacy …………………………………………………………. 5

The first line of prevention

Development aid ………………………………………………… 7

Building resilient societies to prevent atrocities

Security assistance ……………………………………………… 9

Helping countries protect their people

International action ………………………………………………11

Working together to prevent atrocities

See the full report here; retrieved June 7, 2017 from:

http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/Cit%20for%20glob%20sol-Preventing_mass_atrocities-highres-singlepages.pdf