St. Vincent’s Gonsalves Spars with US Delegation on Killing of Fishermen

Former St Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves recently welcomed the leadership of the American Embassy in Barbados for a diplomatic meeting, using the opportunity to address broad hemispheric issues and deliver a stern message regarding U.S. conduct in sovereign Caribbean waters.

The meeting took place on Friday, the 20th, at noon at Gonsalves residence in Gorse. The U.S. delegation was led by Karen Sullivan, the Chargé d’Affaires of the American Embassy who is currently leading the mission in the absence of an official ambassador, alongside two other staff members. Gonsalves, who noted that he knows Sullivan quite well, described their talks as a “very good discussion” that covered global, hemispheric, Caribbean, and domestic matters concerning St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

However, the tone of the meeting was not purely cordial, as Gonsalves revealed he used the sit-down to confront the U.S. officials directly over the recent killing of St. Lucian fishermen within St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Exclusive Economic Zone.

Using uncompromising language, Gonsalves informed the American delegation that such actions by foreign powers are completely “not acceptable”. He emphasized that individuals cannot simply be executed without a trial, forcefully telling the diplomats, “you can’t be just killing people like that”.

Rejecting the Monroe Doctrine Pushing back against what he perceives as imperialistic overreach, Gonsalves criticized the U.S. for conflating routine law enforcement with aggressive security policies based on the “Monroe Doctrine” and what he termed the “Trump corollary”.

He firmly rejected the ideology that the United States can act as the “lord and master” of the hemisphere, expecting smaller nations to simply “roll over and play dead” while major powers do whatever they please in sovereign Caribbean territories.

This direct encounter underscores Gonsalves’ broader diplomatic philosophy which he contrasts sharply with the current NDP administration’s submissive “strategic realism” demonstrating his continued willingness to stand face-to-face with major global powers to defend regional sovereignty and human rights.