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The Barbados Government which recently shed crocodile tears over its baseless allegations that the 1990 Delimitation Treaty between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela purported "unilaterally to appropriate to Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago an enormous part of Barbados' and Guyana's maritime territory...." is now seeking to appropriate "an enormous part" of this country's maritime territory. Carnival 2004 may be ended, but Barbados' robber talk which began, perhaps appropriately for that country, immediately prior to the pre-Lenten Festival, continues. Apparently, Barbados, if its manoeuvre is to be taken seriously, hopes to gain along with a sizeable portion of Trinidad and Tobago's proven and probable crude and natural gas reserves, oil and natural gas producing areas off Trinidad's East Coast that are at present being profitably exploited.

Was Barbados' ploy carefully orchestrated by a foreign country, external to CARICOM? Or was it mere coincidence that Barbados' move initiated in November of last year, and which can hinder the process of closer union of the Caribbean Community of Nations, followed on Trinidad and Tobago's release of critically needed crude to then embattled Venezuela, which helped that country to survive an otherwise crippling oil strike? Does Barbados believe that should it achieve the highly improbable that it would be in a position to demand better terms for unnamed foreign oil companies in any negotiations for cross border natural gas exploitation with Venezuela? Is Barbados in the process of negotiating an agreement with a foreign consortium or company for the production of liquefied natural gas?

Is it seeking to undermine Atlantic LNG, a largely European consortium, not of course with existing binding contracts for the supply of liquefied natural gas to the United States, but with respect to future contracts? Should this be so, is it then Barbados' intention to weaken Trinidad and Tobago's position vis a vis the satisfying of the demand for liquefied natural gas to the US? At present this country, or perhaps more to the point, Atlantic LNG, provides 68 percent of United States liquefied natural gas demand. We have raised these points because it appears that the Government of Barbados has acted inappropriately, and consciously so, in promoting the highly emotive issue of the 'right' of Barbados fishermen to fish in Trinidad and Tobago waters, and encouraging them to do so even though it has been held to be illegal.

And all the while with the ultimate intention of exploiting its emotive potential, not simply with the Barbados community, but the wider CARICOM community as well, as a springboard to challenge at an international forum this country's right to its long established maritime territory. The clear intent of this wholly questionable strategy of Barbados was that Barbados could rally support within CARICOM on the issue in the clearly vain hope of widening its maritime boundary at the expense of Trinidad and Tobago.