Star Metro - Rubio looks at new path for Haiti on Caribbean trip

Donald Trump's top diplomat departed for Jamaica, where he will attend a summit of the Caribbean Community, before stops Thursday both in Guyana and neighboring Suriname.

At the Caribbean summit, Rubio will meet the leaders of Haiti as well as host Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, according to the State Department.

It is Rubio's second trip south of the US border since taking office as the Trump administration puts a laser-focus on preventing migration.

Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, has been at a breaking point for years with the collapse of government authority, rampant violence and the crumbling of public health services.

A Kenyan-led international security mission supported by former president Joe Biden has deployed to Haiti in hopes of bringing stability, but the troop force has come up short and violence has resumed.

More than 60,000 people have been displaced in one month inside the capital Port-au-Prince in a resurgence of gang violence, the International Organization for Migration said last week.

Rubio has made an exemption to sweeping cuts in US assistance to allow the continuation of US support to the Haiti mission. The Trump administration has yet to announce new ideas on Haiti, beyond revoking deportation protections for thousands of Haitians living in the United States.

Mauricio Claver-Carone, the US special envoy on Latin America, said Rubio hoped to speak with Caribbean nations to hear their views on Haiti.

"The circumstances are dire," he told reporters.

"We are developing a strategy in order to be able to continue to support the Haitian National Police, in order to deal with this," he said.

"It is a strategy in development."

Rubio, visiting the Dominican Republic last month, said the international mission in Haiti "needs to be broadened for it to be able to eliminate these gangs."

"If that can be achieved, we need to discuss the future of Haiti," which can include incentives for domestic manufacturing, Rubio said.

- Guyana, the new Gulf Arab ally -

Rubio will be the third successive US secretary of state to visit Guyana with interest spiking after the discovery of major oil reserves. The South American country now has the largest crude oil reserves in the world on a per capita basis.

The oil is concentrated in the Essequibo border region which is disputed with Venezuela, led by leftist US nemesis Nicolas Maduro.

Guyana earlier this month denounced what it called a Venezuelan military vessel's incursion in its waters. Venezuela denied any violation and requested a meeting between Maduro and Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, who dismissed the offer.

Claver-Carone likened Guyana to oil-rich Gulf Arab nations where the United States stations troops, in recent decades due to tensions with Iran.

"We want to work with Guyana in order to ensure the cooperation there and its guarantees on its security. We've seen the threats from Venezuela," he said.

Trump has severed a deal by Chevron to operate in Venezuela and threatened a new tariff effective April 2 for countries that buy Venezuelan oil.

Ali, despite his cooperation with the United States, said that Caribbean nations have concerns they would raise with Rubio about another threatened Trump move -- fines for use of Chinese-made container ships.

"We have to have early conversations to ensure that we mitigate or minimize the impact on the region," Ali said.

M.Johnston--SMC