Houston: A Caribbean City?

I don't know what made me think of it, but I was remembering an article that I penned in March of 2012 that ran in the newsletter for the Caribbean American Heritage Foundation of Texas. (http://caribbeanheritagetx.org/) I decided to dust it off and offer it here for the consideration of anyone with an interest in the Caribbean and its people or anyone with an interest in my hometown, the city of Houston.
--Enjoy--

Houston: A Caribbean City

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan stated that “San Salvador is closer to Houston, Texas, than Houston is to Washington, D.C.” He said this to make the point that actions in Latin America are much more significant to Americans lives than perhaps we tend to think. To take that point in another direction, Latin American and the Caribbean are much more significant to the city of Houston than we tend to recognize. The concept of Houston as a city with Mexican culture is undeniable. But perhaps Houston needs to broaden its view and think of itself as a cosmopolitan Caribbean city. This is not to suggest that Houston will supplant Miami as the “Capital of Latin America” but the substantial, yet undefined influence that Caribbean nations and the Caribbean diaspora have on the city should start to be examined. 

One of the reasons that Caribbean influence has remained undefined in many places is due to the fact that the US census does not have a way of tracking Caribbean ethnicity. The census accounts for Hispanic ethnicity and within that identification, subgroups of Cuban or Puerto Rican. Of those two groups, the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce lists the Puerto Rican population in the city at about 7000. There is also evidence that Cuban migration to Texas has been increasing over the past decade, partly as a result of the ‘wet foot, dry foot’ policy. In an article than ran in the Houston Press, 2007 saw about 11,500 Cubans enter the state of Texas by way of the Mexican border. For those Cubans who do not have family already in Miami, the risks of crossing the Florida Straits only to be picked up by the US Coast Guard and denied access outweigh the reward. Instead, they opt to cross the Yucatan Channel to Mexico where they can eventually make their way towards the Rio Grande and seek asylum as a ‘dusty foot’. As a result, the Cuban population in Houston has seen significant growth recently.
There was a push around the time of the 2010 census to have people of Caribbean ethnicity who were not Hispanic to identify themselves as non-Hispanics of West Indian decent. Without any clear count, Caribbean influence is simply conjecture. But you would be hard pressed to find any Houstonian who does not know at least one person with ties to the Caribbean region. Populations from Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia, and Venezuela are well represented in Houston. There are also population centers from the English-speaking Caribbean from Baytown to Katy. Unbeknownst to many, Houston is home to a Consulate or Honorary Consulate for six Caribbean island nations. 

A prime example of how the Caribbean presence in Houston has gone undefined comes from the Consulate for St Lucia, based in Miami. In a conversation with Peter Rene, Chairman of the Houston-based Caribbean American Heritage Foundation of Texas, he revealed that there are more St Lucians living in the Houston area than there are in Miami. 

While the diaspora footprint in the city may be hard to quantify, the business influence of the Caribbean region is a little bit clearer. Houston’s energy sector does quite a bit of business with regional energy producers such as Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad & Tobago. The Port of Houston, likewise, does a good deal of business in the region. In 2010, Venezuela ranked 2nd in volume of imports to the Port and Panama ranked 5th in volume of exports from the Port.
Events like Houston CaribFest provide a great one day celebration of the Caribbean heritage that is present in the area. But the time has come for the Caribbean community in Houston to be more consistently engaged in their city and recognize the footprint that they leave on a daily basis.  The time has also come for Houston to embrace its Caribbean population and start looking at itself as the cosmopolitan Caribbean city that it is, even if it hasn’t yet recognized it.

Why the Caribbean Needs to go Green

from Caribbean Journal

Why the Caribbean Needs to go Green
December 19, 2013

NO, THE FOCUS of the following is not going to be on the impending doom of global climate change and the peril that island nations will face due to rising sea levels and warming ocean currents. While a discussion of the merits of the climate change argument may be worthy of engaging in and the consequences of its possible effects may be devastating, that conversation alone has not been enough to motivate many to see the need to invest in renewable energy sources throughout the Caribbean.   more...

How Jack Warner Killed the COP

                On the evening of October 21, the results of the Local Government Elections in Trinidad came in with an overriding theme. The Partnership government had lost the mandate of the people that it enjoyed at one time. A more subtle result came with the election returns as well. This result was much quieter but was noted by a number of political analysts in Trinidad who were offering their thoughts on television throughout the evening. The Congress of the People (COP) had lost its relevance. A party that at one time likened itself as the solution-oriented party of Trinidad & Tobago with experienced political leadership that made it the most vital ally in the formation of the People’s Partnership in 2010 had almost no voice in the Local Government elections. Instead, the newly formed Independent Liberal Party (ILP) found itself fighting for local government seats against the Peoples National Movement (PNM) and the United National Congress (UNC). If the question then turns to how the COP lost its relevance in such short order, perhaps the beginning of the party’s fall can be traced back to September of 2012.

                At that time, rumors and accusations ranging from incompetence to corruption were swirling around Jack Warner who was then a member of the UNC representing the constituency of Chaguanas West as a Member of Parliament. The accusations of incompetence stemmed from his tenure as the Minister of Works and Transport. In fact, his performance in that position raised the ire of so many that his portfolio was reduced to just Minister of Works. The rumors of corruption were those that came from Warner’s work with FIFA and CONCACAF and which were, to some extent, eventually corroborated. While he was a strong political leader, Warner was also becoming a political liability for the Partnership government. The presence of an individual who seemed to have controversy and accusations of shady-dealings follow him everywhere hung like a dark cloud over all actions of the government. In fact, Jack Warner’s position in the Prime Minister’s Cabinet was eroding the government’s moral legitimacy.

                Vernon de Lima, then Vice-Chairman of the COP, made the move to call upon Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to remove Jack Warner from her Cabinet. Convinced that the integrity of the Partnership Government; a ruling government in which the COP was an integral part of forming with the UNC; was at stake, Mr. de Lima put forth a resolution for consideration by the COP. The resolution demanded that the Prime Minister remove Jack Warner from the Cabinet or else the COP would remove itself as a member-party of the People’s Partnership. It was a bold move to say the least. The COP held a number of influential positions in the government and to remove itself from the ruling partnership would put much of that influence in jeopardy. Mr. de Lima’s position in the matter was clear however. He wanted the COP to be that voice that stood for good governance and for solutions to the problems of Trinidad & Tobago. If corruption was an identified problem in the country, then the COP should take a firm stand against it no matter how politically inconvenient it was. When the resolution was put to vote as to whether the COP would demand the removal of the politically powerful and valuable Jack Warner or would choose to work within ‘the system’ of governmental power, the COP voted by a margin of 91-6 against the proposed resolution. After the vote, COP members spoke of the necessity to work with the government and not voluntarily remove themselves from power in order to do the most good for the people of Trinidad & Tobago. That vote, which led Vernon de Lima to resign his position in the COP, turned out to be a seminal moment in the history of the party.

                Since that time, the COP has lost some of its influence within the Partnership government and has seen the enthusiast support it once had dramatically fade, as is evidenced by the Local Government elections. Ironically, it appears that the man to drive the nail into the political coffin of the COP is none other than Jack Warner himself. Months later, Warner found himself in the midst of yet another round of accusations. This time, however, he was removed from the Cabinet, his seat in Parliament was declared vacant, and he was kicked out of the UNC. Not to be outdone, Jack Warner formed his own political party, the ILP, and subsequently won back the seat he was forced to vacate. And within 4 months of its formation, it is Warner’s ILP that received wide support from Trinidad voters who did not support the PNM or the UNC in the Local Government elections. The position of being the 3^rd party for Trinidadians frustrated with the performance of both the PNM and the UNC had belonged to the COP, but no longer. Perhaps if the COP had supported the resolution last September against Jack Warner, they would have been seen as the party that Trinidadians could turn to when they are tired of the status-quo. Instead, the COP chose to maintain the status-quo. In politics, boldness is risky but is often rewarded. No one knows that better than Jack Warner. 

Tourism & the Resource Curse

A TRENDING topic amongst foreign policy wonks as of late is that of the “resource curse.”
The theory, which has it that nations which are “blessed” with an abundance of natural resources (oil is the paramount example) end up plagued by poor governance, rampant corruption, etc., was first popularized in the 1990s and early 2000s.
It has reappeared as a point of debate in light of the potential sub-Saharan Africa oil boom, even garnering a lengthy discussion in a recent Foreign Affairs article.
While there is no absolute definition of the resource curse, common themes do exist, such as ineffective governance, lack of economic diversification, underdevelopment, revenue volatility, and excessive borrowing. read more...

A Shout out from AS/COA

From AS/COA Online Weekly Roundup

September 13, 2013

Why Does the Caribbean Have Such High Incarceration Rates?

While the United States tops the list for incarcerating the most people in the world, the lock-up rate in Caribbean countries counts among the highest in the world. Data from Britain’s International Centre for Prison Studies shows that, excluding the United States, Caribbean countries make up 10 of the list’s top 50 countries with the highest incarceration rates. A September 7 analysis by Caribbean Journal contributor Michael Edghill discusses three factors at the root of this statistic: the 1980s regional crime surge, the resulting backlogged justice systems, and the implementation of U.S.-style criminal justice reforms.

Read the full Roundup here.

Or link directly to the article here

The Caribbean's Incarceration Problem

Every now and again, a report or statistic comes along that presents something genuinely surprising. A few weeks ago, that statistic came by way of a graphic shared through social media. The graphic showed the nations with the highest incarceration rate globally.

This graphic was an illustration of a study by Britain’s International Centre for Prison Studies. What it revealed was that, while the United States topped the list, the incarceration rate amongst Caribbean nations was one of the highest in the world.  read more...

Welcome

Welcome to the home of Michael W Edghill, foreign affairs analyst focusing on the English-speaking Caribbean (aka - the West Indies). Take some time to read the various articles that have been published and look for more to come in the future.