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As a region, the Caribbean is not good at supporting its own people.

It is far too concerned about reparations and past injustices. It always seems to have its hand out begging.

Its academics and elites have their priorities all wrong, which has held back the Caribbean with low productivity rates, low income per capita, low growth and stagnant economies.

CARICOM has proven to be impotent and ineffectual at every crisis the Caribbean has faced in the last several decades. It does not serve as a definitive agent for the region. Look how late it has come out in support for Guyana. It chose to sit back and weigh up its position, timid in not offending anyone.

Guyana is under an existential threat and Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro is claiming that the oil-rich region of Esequiba belongs to his country and that it will be claimed as such. He says that Guyanese people of that area will be recognised as Venezuelans, thus foregoing their original citizenship.

Maduro is amassing troops and a military escalation could take place.

On December 3, a referendum vote took place in Venezuela’s capital Caracas where Venezuelans unanimously sided with their President to incorporate Esequiba under Venezuelan jurisdiction.

Why does Maduro feel so emboldened to make this move?

Because Guyana and the Caribbean is perceived as weak and unlikely to respond.

The match-up doesn’t favour Guyana. Venezuela has a population of 28.5 million people with some 600,000 military personnel consisting of 160,000 frontline troops.

Guyana, with a population of just 800,000, has a paltry military force of just 3,000.

Venezuela is laying claim to 160,000 square kilometers (Esequiba), two thirds of Guyana as it currently exists.

Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves has stepped up and is looking to cool tensions and come to an arrangement at a summit to be held in St Vincent.

Gonsalves has for some time now been one of the outstanding Caribbean leaders, a true champion of CARICOM. This matter cannot be left on just his shoulders.

To date no Caribbean leader has vociferously condemned Maduro and insisted that a significant part of Guyana should not be annexed.

CARICOM has not called for the mobilisation of allied Caribbean troops to go help Guyana defend itself from an invader bent on claiming essential resources.

It matters little the size of the military force it can send but it would go a long way in demonstrating solidarity and sending a message to the world that as a region we stand by our people.

Tiny islands individually have very little say in this world. They have a louder voice of they stand together and their cause is just. The world is then more likely to get on board and call out this indignity.

Most of the Caribbean has never had to fight for its freedom and independence. In most instances, a moral imperative prevailed. The Dominican Republic took on Spain, Haiti repelled France. Even the United States bravely went up against the mighty British empire. Freedom won is far more precious than freedom given.

Now Guyana and the Caribbean must show bravery and be prepared to fight to hold and defend the Esequiba territory. It can’t rely on fancy talk by woke professors and self-serving politicians.

Now more than ever, it is clear why the Caribbean must be united and work together. If Maduro claims a part of Guyana, where next? Trinidad & Tobago? Can any Caribbean island then easily be annexed on the pretext of centuries-old maps? Should we not be prepared to die for what is ours? Our country and its people?

Plenty of black scholars and neo-liberals have called for statutes of Winston Churchill to be taken down in the U.K..

This should not be allowed to happen under any circumstances and the powers that be should not give in to that nonsense in fear of being cancelled or inciting race riots.

Churchill is a British hero. He rallied the country, fighting off Nazi Germany against great odds.

Read what he says here: “To the question of the invasion, I would observe that there has never been a period in all these long centuries of which we boast when an absolute guarantee against invasion could have been given to our people.

“But I have myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once more able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of war and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

“At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government, every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old famous states have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end.

“We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!”

Guyana and the Caribbean can learn from Churchill. This is precisely the mentality it must adopt in taking on Venezuela. We cannot expect others to do the fighting for us. Yes, we require help but if needs be, we must go it alone. This is a major test for the Caribbean and by extension CARICOM. Is it going to abrogate its responsibility and meekly place itself in other’s hands?

Where are its elder statesmen and leaders here? Where is PJ Patterson on this? As yet they cannot be heard on this matter. No one is rallying the region. Are we expected to go gently into the night and allow Maduro to take Guyana?

“You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth,” Churchill is believed to have once said. Guyana and the Caribbean cannot talk Maduro out of what he intends to do. Sitting around a table making polite conversation and beseeching Venezuela to walk away will be to no avail.

We are not a people easily vanquished. We are not a people to be taken lightly. We should not allow most of Guyana to be taken away by Venezuela. It can keep its bloody oil, we will source it elsewhere if we have to.

Guyana and the Caribbean must stand together and fight off Venezuela. The answer is not appeasement. We must exhibit courage, fortitude and be prepared to die hard.

Guyana is all of us in the Caribbean. We must have its back. We need leaders in the region whose backs are broad. We must show Maduro he miscalculated and underestimated us. We must show our resolve. We have to get behind Guyana-unconditionally.

Venezuela has made it clear it does not respect both the process and the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Venezuela has shown aggression and is threatening.

What is the Caribbean going to do? Are we going to allow this? We should not. Efforts have been made to de-escalate the situation.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies Sir Hilary Beckles has confidently proclaimed: “ The summit will reflect the brilliance of the diplomatic capacity and the seniority of Prime Minister Gonsalves in the affairs of Caricom and Latin America. The meeting will reaffirm the supremacy of the role and function of the diplomacy within the context of conflict.

“The summit will also suggest the importance to the region of the rule of law and the importance of protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Guyana. Caricom has consistently celebrated the importance of peaceful co-existence of nation-states and the paramountcy of the rule of law.”

Well said, but it doesn’t appear that Maduro feels bound by the rule of these laws. He says he has a mandate from his people to take lands which he says belong to Venezuela.

If he succeeds in his mission, he will make Guyana and the Caribbean smaller and weaker.

We too in the Caribbean have cojones. It’s time Maduro and the world were made of aware of that.