Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says Caricom can expel Trinidad and Tobago from the regional body if it wishes to do so, but moving forward, this country will not recognise Dr Carla Barnett as Caricom Secretary-General after her tenure expires in August.

The Prime Minister was responding to questions from the Express yesterday, where she made it clear that T&T remains committed to Caricom and is not withdrawing, but it will not stay silent on what she said was the dysfunctional and chaotic state of the body and Barnett’s reappointment.

Trinidad and Tobago maintains that Barnett’s reappointment, which was decided on during the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in St Kitts and Nevis in February 2026 without T&T being present when the decision was made, was not formally placed on the agenda for plenary discussion during the conference, and this was in breach of the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.