Essay on CARICOM

The founding of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) was the result of a 15-year effort to achieve the hope of regional integration which had begun with the establishment of the British West Indies Federation in 1958. It was a Federal Government drawn from 10 member islands which were Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, the then St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago. The Federal Capital of the federation was located in Trinidad and Tobago Economically the Region remained as it had been for centuries and during this period of time not even free trade was introduced between the Member Countries during this period. The Federation however faced several problems. Some were the control and executive structures enforced by the British; disagreements among the territories over some policies, mostly with respect to taxation and central planning.
The conclusive development, which led to the end of the Federation was the withdrawal of Jamaica who were the largest member of the Federation, they departed from the federation in 1961. This also led to the now famous statement of Dr Eric Williams, the then Premier of Trinidad and Tobago that, one from ten leaves nought, referring to the departure of Jamaica which justified his decision to withdraw Trinidad and Tobago from the Federal arrangement a short while later. The West Indies Federation collapsed in January of 1962 but its end, in some ways is regarded as the real beginning of what is now the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
The demise of the Federation meant the dawn of a more serious effort on the part of the Political leaders of the Caribbean to strengthen the bonds between the islands by providing for the maintenance and reinforcement of the areas of cooperation that existed during the time of the Federation. After announcing the end of the Federation the government of Trinidad and Tobago suggested the creation of a Caribbean Community,