The Tribune

MINISTER of Economic Affairs Senator Jerome Fitzgerald yesterday warned that the Caribbean risks a new era of "digital colonisation" unless governments take greater control of data, technology infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

Delivering the keynote address at the CANTO conference, Mr Fitzgerald argued that the region is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign-owned digital systems, with Caribbean nations generating data, hosting infrastructure and paying for services while ownership, profits and decision-making remain overseas.

"The Caribbean is entering the digital age through an architecture that risks reproducing the central logic of the colonial age: extraction without ownership, participation without power, and dependence presented as development," he said.

He warned that digital sovereignty requires more than internet access or adopting new technologies.

"Digital consumption is not digital sovereignty. Connectivity is not capability. Hosting is not ownership," he said, arguing that governments must know where critical data is stored, who controls encryption keys and whether essential services could continue if providers withdrew support or infrastructure failed.

Questioning the long-term benefits of regional data centre projects, Mr Fitzgerald asked whether Caribbean countries were receiving sufficient value in exchange for land, utilities and tax concessions.

"Should we give the land, provide the power, supply the water, build the road, grant the concessions, and then pay rent to use services generated from our own resources while the knowledge and profits leave our shores?" he said.

He proposed a Caribbean Digital Sovereignty Compact to establish common regional standards for data centres, cybersecurity, cloud contracts and disaster recovery, preventing investors from playing one jurisdiction against another. He also called for a federated Caribbean cloud network, regional cybersecurity capabilities and public technology contracts that require open standards, independent audits, Caribbean-controlled encryption and knowledge transfer.

Mr Fitzgerald also warned that artificial intelligence systems trained largely on foreign data could distort Caribbean identities.

"Much of what these systems know about us was written by others," he said. "When our children put a question to a machine and it answers with confidence, how do we know that our culture, our values, and our history are being translated in our voice, and not merely summarised in someone else's?"

He urged governments to invest in Caribbean datasets, AI research, engineers, cybersecurity specialists and regulators capable of protecting the region's digital interests.

"The choice is not between isolation and dependency. The better course is partnership with agency," he said.

Mr Fitzgerald said the World Telecommunication and ICT Policy Forum, to be held in Nassau from September 1 to 4, presents an opportunity for Caribbean governments, regulators and telecommunications operators to present a united regional position.

"The issue before us is no longer whether the Caribbean will become digital. It will. The issue is who, in the digital Caribbean, will hold the keys, and whether the Caribbean truly remains sovereign."