The Greater Caribbean, also known as the Caribbean Basin, is composed of 25 countries:
– 12 countries are retentionist: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago
– 1 country is considered abolitionist in practice: Grenada
– 11 countries are abolitionist in law: Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador (for ordinary crimes only), Guatemala (for ordinary crimes only), Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, Suriname and Venezuela
Click on a country mentioned above to learn more about their approach to the death penalty.
The paradox of retentionist Caribbean: few executions but a core of countries strongly opposed to abolition
The last execution in the Caribbean took place in 2008 in St. Kitts and Nevis and only three states issued death sentences in 2012 (Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago).
However, at the international level, Caribbean votes against the UN General Assembly resolutions on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty represent more than 1/4 of the total votes opposed to the global moratorium. Most of the Caribbean retentionist states have consistently voted against the resolution and have signed the Note Verbale, dissociating them from the moratorium.
– World Coalition on Death Penalty
GCL-EU Project Target Countries
The Countries listed below are the target countries that GCL is working alongside the European Union with to educate and advocate for Death Penalty Abolition. While GCL is actively engaged in this project we work for the abolition of the death penalty in all the countries of the Greater Caribbean.
The Greater Caribbean For Life 