Belize in danger of being a Failed Pariah State?

Some small Caribbean countries are in danger of acquiring the reputation as failed pariah states, according to an editorial in Sunday's Jamaican Observer. Belize and Grenada are being placed in that category. The article says that there are three reasons for this dubious distinction: the small states have shown to be incapable of successfully performing the first task of a state, which is to keep law and order within the national borders. They are incapable of protecting their populations from external aggression and invasion, as is evident in the uncontrolled penetration of transnational crime and drug trafficking. And they are not able to achieve self-reliant sustainable economic development; their foreign policy is usually to seek assistance from Taiwan to Venezuela. These states default on debt-servicing, sell economic citizenship, provide safe haven to questionable off-shore financial institutions and there is corruption, tax evasion and human trafficking. If that description brings you close to home, according to the Observer, these small Caribbean countries are doing further damage by defaulting on servicing their debt which according to the newspaper, is not a workable negotiating strategy and that the only people affected, are is citizens, in this case Belizeans and Grenadians.

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