A currently-accepted interpretation of the tectonic history of the Caribbean favors the idea that the so-called Caribbean plate is a fragment of the Pacific that has progressively wedged itself between the North American and South American plates during the last 40 to 50 million years. This interpretation would require very large horizontal displacement along the northern and southern boundaries of the plate. While there is evidence of large horizontal displacement between the North American and Caribbean plates, particularly along the Cayman Trough, evidence of comparably large displacement between the Caribbean and South American plates is not evident.

East-west-striking transcurrent faults have been recognized onshore and offshore in northern Venezuela and Colombia, but present evidence indicates that their horizontal displacement is not of the required magnitude. There is, on the other hand, considerable evidence of NNW-SSE compressive deformation and NW-SE right-lateral transcurrent displacement in northern Venezuela and the southern Caribbean.

An alternative interpretation of the tectonic history of the Caribbean which better agrees with the available geological and geophysical evidence needs to be developed.

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