Following the bombing of boats in the Caribbean waters, retired statesman and former Prime Minister of Jamaica, P.J. Patterson, has spoken out against the action and condemned the United States (US) drone strikes on the vessels, describing the attacks as “fundamentally dangerous” and a “horrible erosion” of regional sovereignty.

The former Jamaican prime minister said that the actions of the US government threatened to undo decades of diplomatic efforts aimed at preserving the Caribbean as a “Peace Zone.”  Paterson’s comments come amid growing regional unease over a series of US-ordered military strikes targeting alleged drug – trafficking vessels in the Caribbean waters.

“This situation raises significant concerns,” Patterson stated. “At our best first meeting in 1972 in Chaguaramas, the four independent countries, Jamaica under Michael Manley, Barbados under Errol Barrow, Guyana under Forbes Burnham, and Trinidad and Tobago under the chairmanship of Eric Williams, declared the Caribbean to be a zone of peace.

According to Washington reports, President Donald Trump personally authorized the operation, and it has already destroyed at least five boats illegally transporting narcotics to the United States, killing twenty-seven people on the ships. The most recent strike conducted on Tuesday left six dead.

In marking the dangers in the situation, the former Prime Minister of Jamaica continued by saying, “We are witnessing now a fundamentally dangerous and horrible erosion of that firm commitment to assert our collective sovereignty in the area. It is a matter that compels the heads of the government in the Caribbean, as a matter of greatest urgency, to make consultations and take a common position in reaffirming that inviolable principle.”

“This is not a matter that permits any semblance of political division,” Patterson argued. “There is a well-established pattern by which we have dealt with such matters before – perhaps the most recent being our consultants over the American request for a Ship Rider Agreement,” Patterson expressed.

The former prime minister warned that continued silence from CARICOM leaders could embolden future violations of Caribbean sovereignty.

“The Caribbean has always stood for peace, dialogue, and respect for sovereignty,” he noted. “We cannot allow external powers to transform our waters into a battlefield,” Patterson warned.

Regional leaders such as Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, have given their strong support for the success of the US Navy’s deployment, saying she is happy with the mission, as the cartels have inflicted pain and suffering on the nation.

Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, recently appealed to the United Nations for dialogue from CARICOM to avoid escalating tension between Washington and Caracas.

Dr. Ralph Gonsales, who is from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, called the militarization of regional waters ” exceedingly troubling.”

CARICOM’s new chairman, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness, remained silent.

Former Prime Minister Patterson refrained from commenting directly but asked that the issue become an urgent, unified, and official position of CARICOM heads of government.