As the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) commemorates 53 years since the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas, the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has challenged the Region’s political leadership to move beyond lofty declarations and honour the commitments that underpin Caribbean integration, warning that delayed implementation and deepening socio-economic hardships continue to erode the Community’s credibility.

In its CARICOM Day 2026 message, the umbrella labour body joined governments and citizens across the Region in celebrating the July 4, 1973 signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which established CARICOM as the principal mechanism for regional integration, economic cooperation and collective development.

The Congress paid tribute to CARICOM’s founding fathers—Prime Ministers Forbes Burnham of Guyana, Errol Barrow of Barbados, Michael Manley of Jamaica and  Dr. Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago—whose vision, it said, recognised that the Caribbean’s small island and mainland states could better safeguard their sovereignty, strengthen their economies and improve the welfare of their citizens through unity, mutual respect and collective action.