French Military, RSS Officials Discuss Training Opportunities

Four members of the French Armed Forces for the Caribbean visited the Regional Security System (RSS) Headquarters in Barbados last week to discuss training opportunities for military and law enforcement officers from RSS Member States. An RSS release said the French officers were interested in collaborating in capacity-building initiatives for maritime security and humanitarian and disaster relief efforts. The release also disclosed that RSS officials welcomed the opportunity to strengthen the organisation’s relationship with the French forces. Last week’s meeting between the RSS and French officials occurred against the backdrop of an alarming surge of gun violence in the Caribbean and several major drug seizures in the region by the French Armed Forces for the Caribbean. Last month, the French Navy intercepted a ship carrying more than 9 tonnes of cocaine off the coast of Martinique and arrested three Colombians and a Spaniard. In 2024, French law enforcement officials seized a record of more than 28 tonnes of narcotics off the coast of the Antilles. The RSS currently comprises Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The Regional Security System emerged in 1982 to counter threats to the...