Stable Seas: Caribbean provides a holistic overview of maritime security covering nine issue areas with a focus on those countries bordering the Caribbean Sea, from Belize in the northwest, to the Bahamas in the north, and French Guiana and Suriname in the southeast. 

• There is little political violence in the Caribbean, outside of Venezuela, but homicide, femicide, and violence against women are extremely common. Illicit criminal groups pull some into nefarious maritime activity and push others to flee their countries via maritime or land-based routes. 

• Natural disasters are increasingly threatening the region’s maritime security, but some countries, like Costa Rica, Cuba, and Dominica have developed robust mitigation plans that could be replicated throughout the Caribbean. 

• Maritime security efforts have traditionally focused on drug trafficking, but a holistic focus will enable enforcement agencies to more accurately and effectively combat illicit actors in the maritime space.

• Fragmentation exists between many of the small states in the Caribbean, emphasizing the importance of supporting unifying organizations like CARICOM and the OECS to generate holistic regional approaches to maritime insecurity.