CubaPLUS Magazine

The Caribbean Community (Caricom) and Cuba today reach 51 years since the establishment of their ties, further strengthened by the solidarity cooperation of the largest of the Antilles and the support of the bloc in the international arena. Both parties celebrate the decision of Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica to establish diplomatic relations with Havana in 1972 and break the hostile isolation that that government faced after its revolutionary triumph in 1959.

Such a gesture paved the way for the remaining Caribbean territories to develop ties of friendship and collaboration with that sister nation and later, in 2002, led to the implementation of the mechanism of the Caricom-Cuba summits. Precisely at that meeting, the heads of State and Government of the integrationist bloc and Cuba agreed to establish this date to celebrate the beginning of their ties, considered a reference for other integrationist projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.

These meetings are held every three years to examine and expand cooperation and integration projects in fields such as education, health, energy and trade, among others. During its five decades of ties, Cuba provided scholarships, technical aid, personnel and medical assistance in situations of natural disasters free of charge and a large number of its collaborators provided services in Caricom states.

One of the most significant examples of their solidarity was the deployment of more than 1,200 doctors in Haiti to combat the cholera epidemic that hit that Antillean nation in 2010, resulting in thousands of deaths and infections. For its part, the Caribbean group demands in all international events the immediate cessation of the financial, commercial and economic blockade that the United States has maintained against the Island for more than half a century.

The eighth Caricom-Cuba summit took place last year in Barbados, and was another opportunity where the objectives were outlined to expand cooperation programs and strengthen ties of brotherhood. The final text of the meeting highlighted, among several issues, that the partnership between the parties is an exemplary model of fruitful and mutually beneficial South-South cooperation.

In addition, October 6 was declared Caricom-Cuba Day against terrorism, in memory of the 73 victims of the bombing of a Cubana de Aviación ship in the waters of Barbados, on that date in 1976. The ninth edition of the summit will be in Cuba in 2025.