Grenada calls for region-wide peace effort

By Lincoln DePradine

Grenada is worried about the outbreak of a war in the Caribbean, where the United States has deployed military forces, with US President Donald Trump saying he would not rule out sending troops into Venezuela.

“The consequences of a war are unimaginable,’’ Joseph Andall, Grenada’s minister of foreign affairs, told The Caribbean Camera.

He was responding to questions at a gathering held at the consulate general of Grenada in Toronto.

Andall, who was elected to parliament in 2022 as part of the victorious National Democratic Congress team led by Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, is also minister of trade and export development.

Grenadian-Canadians, who attended the November 12 “meet, greet and engage’’ with Andall, were updated on several development initiatives including “Project Polaris’’, a healthcare and hospital plan.

According to the Grenada government, “Project Polaris is more than a hospital’’, but a “medical city that brings together the essential pillars of a thriving health system. It’s a visionary health and innovation district designed to redefine care, research, and well-being across the Caribbean’’.

Andall said the government has been working on widening the eligibility for citizenship to include more offspring of Grenadian nationals residing overseas.

As well, he said, the government is planning a “massive homecoming’’ in 2026 for Grenadians in the Diaspora. “Cabinet has already given the heads-up on that,’’ Andall said.

He expressed concern at the impact, not only on Grenada, but also on other Caribbean countries, should there be an outbreak of war involving Venezuela and the United States.

It’s estimated that the US has about 15,000 troops in the Caribbean and has deployed armament that includes the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s most advanced aircraft carrier.

In Trinidad and Tobago, which is only 11 kilometres from Venezuela at its closest point, Trinidadian soldiers have been involved in so-called “training exercises’’ with the US military.

Andall argued that there will be “no winners’’ in a war, whose fallout will include an influx of arms into the southern Caribbean and a crisis of Venezuelan refugees seeking asylum.

Grenada, which wants the Caribbean to remain “a zone of peace’’, would like talks towards de-escalation to continue, said Andall.

Calls for the Caribbean to be respected as “a zone of peace’’ have been common in Grenada, where anti-war protests have been held.

“That is not only a political request; that is an economic necessity for us,’’ said Grenadian MP Peter David, who has participated in the anti-war marches and zone of peace protests, and also has raised the issue in the House of Representatives.

“We are very good friends with Venezuela and the US. We need the partnership with both. We urge them to find a negotiated outcome; we need for them to talk,’’ he added. “We must use whatever leverage we have to indicate our opposition to war in this region.’’

Andall’s visit to Canada also took him to a meeting with Grenadian nationals in Montreal and to Ottawa, where he held talks with Canadian government officials and participated in a reopening ceremony for the Grenada high commissioner’s office.

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Andall was joined by Canadian government officials and members of the diplomatic corps, including George Griffith and Jennifer Hosten-Craig, two former Grenada high commissioners to Canada.

Sylvester Quarless, a former Grenada government minister, is the high commissioner. He took up his appointment in September.

LJI reporter

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