St. Vincent and the Grenadines - Leadership

Gonsalves is a relative newcomer to the political scene, though in his academic and judicial careers he has been deeply involved in issues relating to the largely impoverished nations of the Caribbean. A Marxist in his early years, Gonsalves has moderated his political views but unquestionably is a left-of-center leader. A core belief driving his political life is that the island nations of the Caribbean must be integrated in meaningful ways so that they can pool their resources. He is critical of the established multinational organizations such as the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) for being too elitist and too concerned with economic and trade relations, and not concerned enough with political union. Gonsalves has been a forceful voice in the Caribbean for further political union. In April 2002, he passed through Parliament a law amending the country's immigration laws to facilitate free travel among member states of the OECS, a move in compliance with measures adopted by the OECS in 2001.