Caribbean countries pledge humanitarian support for Cuba amid rising tensions with US
Disagreement among Caricom members hampers unified response on Cuban sovereignty and US intervention in the region
Caribbean countries have pledged to support Cuba through a humanitarian crisis exacerbated by a US fuel embargo, after a leaders summit defined by regional divisions over Washington’s policies.
The decision to send humanitarian assistance to Cuba was announced during a press conference on Friday to mark the end of the four-day Caribbean Community (Caricom) meeting in St Kitts and Nevis, which secretary of state Marco Rubio attended to discuss US relations with Caribbean governments.
The summit was held amid escalating tensions between Cuba and the US after the arrest of the Caribbean nation’s key ally, the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, by US forces and the Trump administration imposed an oil blockade on Cuba in January.
At the opening of the conference there were calls for dialogue to de-escalate the tensions between Cuba and the US, with Jamaica’s prime minister Andrew Holness raising concerns about the “severe economic hardship, energy shortages and growing humanitarian strain” and its potential consequences on the wider region.
On Friday, the chair of Caricom, St Kitts and Nevis prime minister, Terrance Drew, said that the 15-country bloc will be responding “in a significant way to help the humanitarian situation in Cuba” within a month.
Asked whether there will be a joint Caricom statement condemning the US military intervention in the region, which has included deadly military strikes against suspected drug boats in the area killing at least 151 people without providing evidence of wrongdoing, Drew told reporters that the body was investigating and gathering information to “ensure … a complete and comprehensive response”.
Caribbean political analyst Peter Wickham said a disagreement among members about the US policies may be the reason for Caricom’s lack of a clear position on the matter.
At the meeting’s opening session, Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who has continuously praised Trump’s military attacks in the region, challenged calls from fellow leaders to protect the Caribbean as a zone of peace.
Crediting the US military intervention for a reported reduction in crime in Trinidad and Tobago, she said: “Don’t talk to me about a zone of peace when … Trinidad and Tobago, 1.4 million people, we recorded 623 murders in one year, in 2024. And 40% of those murders … were gang-related, driven by narcotics, by firearms smuggled in from Venezuela, and gangs coming out of Venezuela and mingling and mixing with gangs in Trinidad.”
This staunch support of the Trump administration may have made it difficult for a Caricom consensus on US military interventions in the region, Wickham said.
“The reality is that America believes it’s legal. Trinidad and Tobago, who is an ally, believes it’s legal. Everyone else has reservations about the legality. But Caricom has to speak from everybody’s perspective. So once Trinidad and Tobago is in the room and they hold a different view, there’s absolutely nothing that you can do to get a common position in that regard. And I think that that’s what was probably needed,” he added.
David Abdulah, a Caribbean politician and regional executive committee member of civil society organisation, the Assembly of Caribbean People, has also called for a clear position from Caricom on the matter.
Referring to an open letter from the Assembly sent to Caricom ahead of the meeting and urging it to “defend Cuba’s sovereignty and its right to self determination”, he said “it is very clear that the Caricom leaders withered”.
“This was what we were concerned about, that Rubio’s visit and meeting with the heads of government would further split and divide Caricom, so that Caricom would not be able to take a strong common position,” he added.
Pointing to Trump’s invitation to only Persad-Bissessar and Guyana’s president Irfaan Ali from Caricom to his meeting with Latin American leaders, he said: “It’s very clear that what Trump and Rubio are doing, is to divide Latin America and the Caribbean into those who are supporting them, and this is going to pose very grave dangers to the sovereignty of our individual countries and to the wellbeing of our citizens going forward.”
In Friday’s press conference, Drew addressed the concerns about disunity in Caricom.
“Caricom does not have a homogeneous … or a single foreign policy – that is left up to sovereign states. Caricom might seek to coordinate but each state, as was mentioned before, has the opportunity to determine what would be its foreign policy agenda” he said, adding that Caricom is not a political union and that “Trinidad and Tobago or any other country being invited to a meeting does not fragment Caricom”.
Drew also said that Caricom and the US will work out a new cooperation agreement to strengthen their relationship and guide migration, security, trade and investment, disaster recovery, human development and technical assistance. The new framework, he said, will supersede agreements such as the Caribbean Basin Initiative, launched in 1983 to manage economic relations between the region and the US.