In an extraordinary development for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), regional heads of government convened a special emergency meeting on 10 April 2026 to address long-simmering governance concerns raised by Trinidad and Tobago, centered largely on the planned reappointment of CARICOM’s top Secretary-General. Notably, neither the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago nor any official government representative from the country took part in the closed-door consultations.
Hosted by the CARICOM Secretariat based in Greater Georgetown, Guyana, the gathering followed a contentious lead-up stemming from disputes that emerged during the bloc’s 50th Regular Conference of Heads of Government, held in St. Kitts and Nevis between 24 and 27 February 2026. In a new official release issued Saturday 11 April, the CARICOM Secretariat has clarified the full sequence of events behind the absence of Trinidad and Tobago’s leadership from the key February 2026 leadership retreat, where the Secretary-General reappointment was first approved.
According to official correspondence records released by the bloc, all 15 CARICOM member states received full advance notification of the 50th conference’s schedule, draft agenda, and planned proceedings, including the separate closed retreat for heads of government scheduled for 26 February. All member states formally acknowledged receipt of these documents. The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago departed the host island of St. Kitts on the evening of 25 February, the first full day of the conference, ahead of the retreat scheduled for the following day, which required a boat transfer to its remote venue.
Shortly after the Prime Minister’s departure, at 10:33 PM that same evening, Trinidad and Tobago’s Foreign Minister Sean Sobers contacted the incumbent CARICOM Secretary-General via WhatsApp to ask whether he could attend the retreat in the Prime Minister’s absence. He was informed that substitution by a foreign minister was permitted under the bloc’s procedures, as had been done in past cases for other heads who could not attend. However, Sobers noted that he suffered from severe seasickness and was hesitant to make the required boat journey.
Internal communications shared by the Secretariat show that 22 minutes after the initial call, the Secretary-General relayed this update to the CARICOM Chairman, noting that Trinidad and Tobago would likely have no representation at the retreat. Shortly after midnight on 26 February, the Secretary-General followed up with Sobers to confirm the Chairman would understand if he opted not to attend due to his seasickness. Sobers never sent a subsequent confirmation that he would attend the meeting, leaving Trinidad and Tobago unrepresented at the retreat.
During the retreat, under the scheduled agenda item covering bloc financing and governance, heads of government debated the reappointment of the Secretary-General in the incumbent’s absence, and approved the reappointment in accordance with the terms of Article 24 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, CARICOM’s founding legal document. To uphold procedural courtesy, heads agreed to delay any public announcement of the decision to allow time to notify all absent heads of government before the news was made public. While attempts were made to reach the absent Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister via both email and telephone, no contact was successfully made, and the Chairman ultimately connected with the country’s foreign minister to share the outcome.
Beyond the Secretary-General reappointment, heads of government also took two other key decisions during the February retreat: they agreed to establish a special sub-committee of heads representing Barbados, Dominica, Guyana and Jamaica to conduct a full review of governance and financing frameworks for all CARICOM institutions, and they authorized the release of an official statement on the bloc’s recent meeting with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio under the agenda item covering global geopolitical shifts.
Following the April 10 emergency meeting, the CARICOM Secretariat has released full supporting documents including the complete timeline of official correspondence and the conference’s detailed work programme for public access via its official website. In the official statement, CARICOM leaders expressed the hope that going forward, all internal disputes within the bloc would be resolved through established internal mechanisms. The release warned that public misinformation and unproductive external statements risk undermining the decades of progress the region has made toward deepening regional integration, a process designed to deliver tangible economic and social benefits to all people across the Caribbean.