Bermuda’s ambitions for full membership in the Caribbean Community may come with an emotional appeal based on shared cultural links — but the gulf between their economies makes a closer alliance akin to “a square peg in a round hole”, a former finance minister says.

Bob Richards, who was also deputy premier under the One Bermuda Alliance administration, said: “Becoming part of a group of small nations whose economies are fundamentally different from ours and who have significant issues with our major trading partner, the USA, is not in Bermuda’s best interest.”

He maintained that “Caricom was not created for an economy like ours, therefore it does not fit”.

In addition, Mr Richards cited “geopolitical risks to Bermuda being associated with Caricom”, noting the US State Department’s ban on issuing visas to citizens of several member states.

The announcement in January affected 75 countries, with the list including Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines.

Mr Richards submitted an opinion article on the topic to The Royal Gazette for today, after the March 9 publication of the Government’s Green Paper on the topic.

The Green Paper outlines the island’s links to the Caricom region and the potential benefits of moving from associate to full membership.

Mr Richards opened by stating “from the outset that my Caribbean roots are very strong” — highlighting the proud heritage in British Guiana of his father, Sir Edward Trenton Richards, the island’s first premier.

The retired politician added that his mother had links to Grand Turk, while his wife was born and raised in Barbados.

“Thus, no one need make the case to me about Bermuda’s strong ties with the Caribbean,” Mr Richards said.

However, he called the Green Paper’s emphasis on a shared history and sense of identity as “matters of the heart, not the head” — and said its “glaring omission” was its failure to acknowledge the island’s heavy influences from the US, dating back to the establishment of military bases in 1940-42.

He added: “The radical divergence in economic development paths between Bermuda and the Caribbean has resulted in today’s state of development in Bermuda being totally different from that of the southern islands, now represented by Caricom.”

Mr Richards said only Cayman and the British Virgin Islands followed economic models similar to Bermuda’s, courtesy of having “shamelessly copied us”.

He argued that the massive American investment in Bermuda and the island’s proximity to the US had taken Bermuda on a wholly different evolutionary path from Caricom members — whose economies he divided into those with and without oil.

He added: “None of the full members of Caricom feature the successful export of financial services like Bermuda — none.”

Mr Richards, who was first elected as an MP in 2007, served as finance minister from December 2012 until 2017, when he retired after the OBA lost to the Progressive Labour Party in the General Election.

His statement echoed remarks he made last year, when he said Bermuda’s associate membership in the community had been “relatively harmless” and recognised the cultural common ground, but added: “From an economic standpoint, it doesn’t make any sense.”

Exploring full membership was announced in the 2023-24 Throne Speech, 20 years after the island moved to associate member status.

Last week, the Government launched “a public engagement campaign designed to support informed national dialogue on Bermuda’s application for full membership”.

In the event of full membership, the island would retain control over its immigration policy, with no automatic free movement of labour.

Mr Richards highlighted the disparity in GDP per capita as economic grounds for a poor fit with Caricom, saying the numbers put Bermuda and Cayman in “a class by themselves”.

He cited the island’s investment-grade credit rating, while adding that only the Bahamas, out of all the major Caricom member states, had never had to turn to the International Monetary Fund for emergency assistance.

“The bottom line here is, financially, Bermuda has nothing in common with the member states of Caricom,” Mr Richards, calling their economies “as different as chalk and cheese”.

He noted the apparent “negative viewpoint” in the US Government to the region as additionally unfavourable to the case for full membership.

He added: “Cosying up to a region that the US views negatively in not in our interests.”