Heads of government, Ministers of National Security and Attorneys General of the Community often complain about the pressures on their security forces to maintain law and order as a consequence of the problems posed by criminal deportees, trafficking in illicit drugs as well as in small arms and ammunition, particularly from the USA and, to a lesser extent the United Kingdom.

The President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, current Chairman of CARICOM, last week became the latest Head of Government to decry the pressures being exerted on the region by the rich and powerful to cooperate in the war against drug-trafficking when he addressed a joint session of the Jamaica Parliament.

Without calling names, he said that "some countries justly urge us to fight crime and to do battle against illicit drugs. However, they do not see or do not care about the condition between these problems and the uncontrolled export of small arms to our region and the continuing deportation of criminals to our countries while they aggressively recruit our trained nurses and teachers..."

Well said, President Jagdeo. But the question of relevance is: What consensual and practical responses have or are being made by CARICOM to arrest this evidently contradictory and undesirable state of affairs in the region's relations with friends of North America and Europe, where are located the biggest consumers of illicit drugs, and from where also come the criminal deportees and shipments of illegal arms and ammunition?

From Jamaica to Guyana there have been protests against lack of understanding and cooperation by the USA, for example, in the deportation of Caribbean nationals who have committed crimes in that country.

It is now over five years since CARICOM leaders signed with President Bill Clinton in Barbados the historic "Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean": Within that Accord is located a segment on "Justice and Security" covering issues on reduction of crime and violence, alien smuggling and deportation of criminals and illegal trafficking in firearms and ammunition.

The CARICOM leaders, who will be having a special meeting on Friday in St. Lucia on the economic problems facing the Caribbean, should inform the public exactly how much progress has been made in the areas of "justice and security" to alleviate the region's problems, to satisfy the requirements of the Caribbean Community, as distinct from reacting to an official Washington agenda.