Proliferation of CIPs Raises Broader Security Concerns

Since the colonial era of Christopher Columbus and his fellow explorers, for better or worse, Caribbean islands have been enticing to private interests. More recent years have seen a number of Caribbean nations open the door to a potential security threat concerning Citizenship by Investment Programmes (CIPs) and private islands. It is one little discussed, but one of which the Caribbean family must be aware given the history with CIPs, and the recent history of the region as a whole. 

Coming and Going in the Caribbean

With over 7,000 islands in the Caribbean, few people might notice the loss of public access to a privately-held island, and fewer still may be anguished by it. Although misgivings exist surrounding what direct economic benefit a privately-held island delivers to the local economy, there is undoubtedly the potential for a ‘flow-on’ of tourism as visitors venture to such an island, or even just want to view it on a sightseeing tour sailing out of a public port.

In the Caribbean, the transient nature of the region is a reality of daily life. Just as European countries like Italy and Spain, or global cities like Tokyo or Los Angeles, always have an abundance of tourists at any given time, it is still true that many people who are here today may be gone tomorrow. Accordingly, few residents would view with any suspicion the visitors who are distant and disconnected from the local population. 

The Difference Between a Tourist and a Citizen

The common perception is that there isn’t much difference between a visiting tourist and a CIP citizen. This view is understandable but incorrect. A tourist will not buy property in the nation; a tourist will not be voting in elections; and a tourist will not have the capacity to influence and, if they so desire, engage in a long campaign of subterfuge; at least not while in the region on a weekend getaway. 

This is an important fact as recent years have shown the potential for a growing nexus between CIPs, criminal conduct and property ownership. While no one in the Caribbean would be happy to learn that someone with heavily suspected criminal links has brought property in a neighbourhood within the nation’s capital city, the upside would be that such an individual would at least retain a high visibility, and be quickly within reach of law enforcement authorities, should their intervention ever become necessary. Were such an individual not located among the general population but hidden away on an island, there would be a greater capacity for criminal activity to go unseen. Although a tourist found in breach of a local law can end up on a fast track to deportation, such a scenario with a CIP citizen is more complicated, especially one who has millions (if not billions) of dollars in their armoury.

Sceptics of such security concerns could argue that even if an island is private, it is not beyond the reach of a sovereign government, their law enforcement officers, or even their military if there was cause to think a private island had become a para-state for a terror cell or similar group. However, there is a difference between the powers of public authorities on paper, and their execution in practice. One does not need to look exclusively at private islands to show how a breakdown occurs; it can happen in suburban neighbourhoods.  

Neighbours, and Neighbouring Islands

Numerous incidents globally have evidenced many gated communities come to regard their enclosure as separate and distinct from local laws beyond their walls. This ranges from the more mundane activities, like ignoring water restrictions on gardening, to the serious, like refusing entry to police, simply because gated communities typically have security guards who are regarded wrongfully by the residents as the lawful authority within their borders (and typically with a great bias to residents over outsiders). 

People may still argue that gated communities are one thing, but large-scale criminal activity occurring on a private island is clearly a class above, and is unlikely to occur. However, one need only look at the allegations against Jeffery Epstein, including his alleged longstanding involvement in under-age sex trafficking on his Little St. James Island in the US Virgin Islands, and the abundance of security guards there, to realise that events that are out of sight of local authorities can indeed be out of mind.

If Caribbean nations wish to guard against the growing risk of private islands becoming a base of large-scale criminal conduct in future, as has already happened in parts of the Philippines, steps must be taken today to build stronger barriers, Whether this means enhanced security and restrictions around CIP applications, or around private island ownership, is a matter for each nation to decide.

Simply ignoring this need may be tempting to some, but several CIPs in our region are still young and untested. Those who like to imagine that the bad old days of criminal cartels island-hopping are now a thing of the past, fail to acknowledge the new risk that CIPs have introduced into this dynamic, and the need to address it. 

Securing Community Values

There a fine line between identifying valid security concerns and enhancing the small but sometimes loud voices who want to wrongly grow suspicion of the stranger; there is zero desire to see that done. The Caribbean is a region with a cosmopolitan and multicultural history, which is central to the story of so many nations around the region, and is a key part of their growth in the future.

Identifying valid security concerns is not about diminishing the Caribbean family’s diverse identity, but protecting it. It’s not about casting suspicion on anyone who has become a citizen via a CIP. The aim is to raise awareness of a potential security issue if a nexus is allowed to form between private islands, poorly managed CIPs, and those who would identify in both an opportunity for criminal activity.