THEY'RE ALL DOING IT; THE BARBADOS POLICE COMMISSIONER WAS SPYING FOR MOTTLEY FOR YEARS: ILLEGAL GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE OF OPPOSITION LEADERS IN THE CARIBBEAN STATES IS AN UNCHECKED AND WIDESPREAD CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS REALITY

More Scandal in the Caribbean ; the former Commissioner of Police in Barbados has reportedly been electronically spying on PM MIA MOTTLEY'S political opponents before she even came in office, and was richly rewarded for it. Unfortunately, the illegal use of surveillance tools to eavesdrop on the communications of Opposition leaders in the Caribbean is an almost universal reality in the region. Using either controversial Israeli high tech platforms, or as we have seen more recently, capabilities supplied by the Peoples Republic of China, Caribbean leaders keep a close watch on democracy advocates, many of whom want to topple the authoritarian regimes that stay in power through voter fraud and massive bribery at election time.Whether these revelations will eventually scupper Mottley's changes of leading the United Nations is a good question, in a world where authoritarian rule is rapidly replacing democracy. I doubt whether the United States will weigh in on the issue, as it has maintained a "don't ask, don't tell" attitude towards Barbados' internal problems for many years.

As a compliance officer, I have long considered all direct forms of international communication with sources in the region to be unsafe, and have attempted to convey that sad reality to anyone making inquiries regarding due diligence, money laundering or financial crime.

There are real-life consequences to this illegal Caribbean surveillance. When Iran illegally detained former FBI Special Agent ROBERT LEVINSON on Kish Island, two decades ago, it was most likely because the Cuban intelligence services, working out of the CANTV headquarters in Caracas, had read Levinson's communication with Opposition leaders in Venezuela, and passed his activities on to the IRGC, who took him into what was to be two decades in Iranian prisons and under house arrest. He was never released.

Assume that all communication with the Caribbean are compromised, ladies and gentlemen, and that truth is hard to come by for that reason.