Peter Espeut | One-sided treaties and reciprocity

And so, two weeks ago (August 12), Jamaica’s Minister of National Security and Peace, Dr Horace Chang, signed a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the second Americas Counter Cartel Coalition Forum in Panama.

Since what we call “Independence”, members of the US Armed Forces and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) have participated in joint training exercises, professional exchanges, humanitarian and disaster response activities, and other forms of security cooperation, without any such agreement.

But the Trump administration now believes that a special treaty is necessary to “formalise the terms under which members of one country’s armed forces may be temporarily present in another country” (website of the US Department of Defense).

The agreement is a reciprocal one; if Jamaica wants to land armed JDF soldiers on US soil, this SOFA provides the framework within which permission may be sought. And, if the US wishes to land US Marines on Goat Island or wherever, they can use the SOFA to make it happen.

Prior to the SOFA, that sort of arrangement was not uncommon. At various times, I have seen British troops, Canadian troops and US troops wandering around the Jamaican countryside. The SOFA, I imagine, just makes it easier and quicker to deploy US military detachments.

I do not think that Jamaica has any plans for the JDF to land on Miami Beach, or Key West, or Biscayne Beach; the initiative to sign the SOFA came from the US. They must know what they intend to do.

But we do not know what the new arrangements are for the deployment. So far, the SOFA is top secret!

But the negotiations for the SOFA took place on the sidelines of the second Americas Counter Cartel Coalition Forum in Panama. And on the website of the US Department of Defense appears the following in relation to the Jamaica agreement:

“This SOFA agreement is a message to the criminal organisations in the region, that the United States Armed Forces and JDF are committed to deepening and expanding their cooperation including in their efforts to fight criminal organisations and narco-terrorists who traffic guns, drugs, and people”.

The SOFA draws Jamaica into the US war against narco-terrorism; and we know what that war looks like. Last Tuesday, the US military blasted out of the water a boat in the Caribbean Sea suspected of being used to transport illegal drugs, killing four people. Up to Tuesday, in 68 boat strikes, at least 227 people the Trump administration labels as “narco-terrorists” have been killed in almost a year, with no evidence provided against them of drugs found,or anything.

I must remind my readers that there are no international waters in the Caribbean Sea; every square centimetre falls in the territorial sea or Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of one country or another. In fact, I don’t believe there is even one circum-Caribbean country whose waters do not overlap with its neighbours, requiring delimitation treaties. This means that, when the US military bombs vessels in the Caribbean Sea, they are more than likely encroaching on the territory of other countries (the US has jurisdiction over some waters in the Caribbean).

Is one of the purposes of this SOFA to require Jamaica to legitimise extrajudicial killings by US forces within Jamaican waters? It is possible that, with this SOFA, Jamaica has agreed not to bring any legal action against the US for any killings they may perform in Jamaican waters. In any case, the US firmly resists the idea of an International Court of Justice in which abuses in this so-called “war on narco-terrorism” could be tried. At the moment, there is no court in which to bring such an action.

So, if the US wishes to put a Jamaican citizen on trial for drug-dealing or gun-running (both mentioned in the US press release), instead of making an extradition request (triggering a long process including court hearings and public debate, and providing an opportunity for the suspect to go into hiding), now they can simply say they intend to apprehend so and so in a Maduro-like operation (would the Jamaican government say no?), then land a squad of Green Berets or Navy Seals, or whoever and whatever, and capture the man or woman they want.

So, looking back at the ‘Dudus Affair’, rather than the JDF having to lay siege to Tivoli Gardens, risking Jamaican lives, US troops could simply attack with their drones, or roll through with their tanks, and whoosh! Rendition for Dudus! Al Miller could have taken a rest, and no wigs needed!

Jamaica has an extradition treaty with the USA, signed on June 14, 1983 and entered into force on July 7, 1991. It is supposed to be a reciprocal treaty. Significant numbers of Jamaicans have been extradited to the US. I am told that, despite several requests, not even one US citizen has ever been deported to Jamaica, making the reciprocity a myth and a joke!

The US wants this SOFA so armed US forces can land in Jamaica for their own purposes. I doubt we would ever be allowed to reciprocate, even if we ever wanted to.

I believe that this SOFA is consistent with the Trump corollary to the Monroe Doctrine: Jamaica is in the backyard of the US, and the US must be allowed to do whatever it wishes here.

US President Teddy Roosevelt issued the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine in 1904, claiming the right for the US to intervene in the internal affairs of Latin American and Caribbean nations. When, after the 1907 earthquake, Admiral Davis of the US Navy entered Kingston Harbour with three warships and landed armed bluejackets on Jamaican soil to provide relief, without the permission of the British authorities, the governor (Alexander Swettenham) ordered them out of the country.

I doubt whether our present leaders have the cojones of Governor Swettenham.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com