In Letter to Trump, Browne Urges Diplomacy to Avert Tensions in Caribbean Waters
Prime Minister Gaston Browne has written to U.S. President Donald J. Trump urging renewed diplomatic engagement with Venezuela amid what he described as a growing military build-up in international waters shared by Caribbean states.
In the letter, Browne said Caribbean nations have long upheld their identity as a “Zone of Peace,” calling the region one of the few remaining places where stability offers relief from global volatility.
He warned that small island economies — especially those dependent on tourism — are acutely vulnerable to geopolitical tension. Browne wrote that “a hint of armed confrontation in our waters reverberates instantly through hotel bookings, airlines, foreign investment, and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of families,” adding that military action near the region could cast “a long shadow” over its primary economic engine.
Browne urged Trump to “follow your instincts which, as far as I have seen, are rooted in dialogue and negotiation,” noting that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has signaled readiness for direct talks. Diplomacy, he wrote, “delivers fewer sorrows than the alternatives.”
