By Owei Lakemfa
A few hours after Donald Trump proclaimed victory over Kamala Harris in the United States, US, presidential election, groups in the Caribbean and Latin America met virtually to discuss the future.
Convened by the ten-country Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, ALBA Movimientos, the participants on the Wednesday, November, 6, 2024, focused on the on-going struggles for independence in Martinique and Guadeloupe and the implications of a second Trump presidency for independence struggles.
Martinique is the birth place of Franz Fanon, famous author of The Wretched of the Earth which became the handbook of many liberation fighters.
Guadeloupe is the butterfly-shaped six-island country with enchanting beaches, tropical rainforest and famous for its rum and sugar.
On the other hand, is Western Sahara, also known as the ‘Last colony in Africa,’ which has been mainly occupied by neigbouring Morocco in an attempt to re-colonise it. Trump, in one of his inexplicable acts as US President, had given Western Sahara, a land his country never owned, to Morocco. So there is the issue: what would a renewed Trump presidency try against this sovereign African country?
Then there is the issue of Puerto Rico, a US colony whose people have no voting representation in the Congress or federal government. In fact, during the Madison Square Trump rally in October 2024, a comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
Esteli Capote of the IPRI Puerto Rican Institute of International Relations spoke about the outcome of the election and the implications of a renewed Trump presidency.
She said for Puerto Ricans the American election was a “Colonial electoral process” in which the Puerto Rican Independence Party came second. This, she said, was the first time in over two centuries the independence movement would garner such votes. Esteli said with such large amount of votes for those who want independence: “We are saying to the US that we are tired of the colonial process; we are saying we are ready to move on to independence.” She said the US had deliberately impoverished Puerto Ricans and turned them in to a heavily indebted people. She added that Puerto Rico has been consciously working with regional organisations because: “It is important for us to work with the Caribbean, to work towards Our America. We are surrounded by water (but) we touch the same sea. Without the Caribbean, there is no American continent. Unfortunately, Puerto Rico is being used to militarise not just the Americas, but other peoples. There are ten bases in Puerto Rico, not just for war, but also against countries that are progressive like Venezuela. The bases here were used for the attempted coup in Venezuela. It is important to state that Puerto Ricans have never given up on independence.”
Esteli said her people developed the slogan, ‘Puerto Rico for Puerto Ricans’ because US citizens come to displace the people. That slogan, she said, is now being expanded to: “The Caribbean for the Caribbeans” because the people are inspired by the teachings of Bolivia and Jose Marti. She talked about a dream to build a confederation of the Latin American people.
The Puerto Rican leader talked about her experience in Abuja, Nigeria in August, 2024 when the international relations think tank, the Society for International Relations Awareness, SIRA, organised an international conference to end colonialism in the world. She said its main achievement was the transformation of the conference into an international End Colonialism Movement, ECM, with the aim of uniting all colonies to end colonialism.
The Puerto Rican internationalist called on all Caribbean, Pacific and Latin American countries to encourage the establishment of ECM branches. She said organising peoples for freedom has taken a more urgent need with the re-election of Trump because in his last presidency, he issued a lot of decrees against various peoples.
Cuba, she said, has been at the forefront of the war against colonialism. So: “If we want to fight colonialism, we must also fight against the (American) blockade of Cuba.”
Daylon Roque of the ALBA Movimentos said the struggles of the Caribbeans, Latin Americans and Africans are linked.
Roque referred to the February 4, 1962 ‘Second Havana Declaration’ in which Fidel Castro emphasised that national liberation has to be for all peoples. Fidel had submitted: “What is Cuba’s history but that of Latin America’s? What is the history of Latin America but the history of Asia, Africa and Oceania? And what is the history of all these peoples but the history of the cruellest and most ruthless exploitation of the world by imperialism?”
Roque said Cuba decided to militarily intervene in Africa against the advice of the Soviet Union which showed that Cuba was not being dictated to by the former. He said Cuba is propelled by principles which is why it supports Argentina on the issue of the Malvinas which is being colonised by Britain. He said it is based on these principles that Cuba annually raises the issue of de-colonisation in the United Nations.
Alain Limery, of the National Council of Popular Committees in Martinique, said the country is monopolised by the descendants of the old slave owners. He added that the protests in Martinique are a mere symptom of the crises in the region, adding that the option is either chaos or change. He said to the people the only solution is independence. The reaction of colonial France, he added, has been to bring back its murderous riot squad which had previously committed crimes against humanity.
Limery is optimistic that a New World Order is rising, pointing out that the rise of the BRICS may well be heralding that new order.
Jean Yves Judith, of the Association of Workers and Peoples of the Caribbean, presented Guadalupe’s position. He said the French have been saying that colonialism is not a crime against humanity. He added that there is the need to have a structure that can organise the workers and peoples of Martinique and Guadalupe.
Kandis Sebro, host of the virtual conference, highlighted the on-going struggles in Martinique and Guadalupe, the push-back against neo-colonialism in the Sahel, the colonial debt crises heaped on Haiti, the principled struggles of Cuba, the teachings of Walter Rodney on underdevelopment, and the need for emancipation.
The participants said they recognise that the re-election of Trump is part of the rise of the far-right and fascist forces, so there is the need for all progressive forces to unite.
Micherline Islanda Aduel, a youth peasant leader from Haiti who has been displaced for ten years, moderated the conference. She rounded off the programme with the advice that progressive humanity needs to raise awareness against colonialism and build advocacy for freedom.
