Caribbean nations have vowed to aid Cuba as it faces a humanitarian emergency worsened by a U.S. fuel embargo, following a leaders’ summit marked by regional splits over Washington’s policies.
The pledge to deliver relief to Cuba was disclosed at a Friday press briefing that concluded the four‑day Caribbean Community (Caricom) gathering in St Kitts and Nevis, an event attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss American ties with Caribbean states.
The meeting took place against a backdrop of rising friction between Cuba and the United States after U.S. forces detained Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro, a key ally of Havana, and the Trump administration instituted an oil blockade on the island in January.
During the opening session, participants urged dialogue to ease the strain between Cuba and the U.S., with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness warning of “severe economic hardship, energy shortages and growing humanitarian strain” and the possible ripple effects across the region.
On Friday, Caricom chair and St Kitts‑Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew announced that the 15‑member bloc would act “in a significant way to help the humanitarian situation in Cuba” within the next month.
When asked whether a joint Caricom statement would denounce the U.S. military actions in the area—operations that have included lethal strikes on suspected drug vessels, killing at least 151 people without proven misconduct—Drew said the organization was gathering facts to “ensure a complete and comprehensive response.”
Political commentator Peter Wickham noted that divergent views among members on U.S. policy likely explain Caricom’s inability to adopt a unified stance.
In the opening session, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad‑Bissessar, a vocal supporter of Trump’s regional military actions, pushed back against appeals from other leaders to preserve the Caribbean as a peace zone.
She credited the U.S. intervention with a reported drop in crime in her country, stating: “Don’t talk to me about a zone of peace when … Trinidad and Tobago, 1.4 million people, recorded 623 murders in 2024, and 40 % of those were gang‑related, driven by narcotics, firearms smuggled from Venezuela, and gangs from Venezuela mixing with local gangs.”
Wickham added that this strong backing of the Trump administration has complicated the search for a Caricom consensus on U.S. military involvement in the region.
Read next
Latvia probes Russian drones that crashed near vacant oil sites.
Morning briefing: Latvia probes drones ‘from Russia’ after nocturnal airspace breaches
Latvia is looking into two unmanned aircraft that crossed its border from Russian soil during the night and came down in the east of the country close to a deserted oil‑storage site.
Four vacant tanks were reported damaged,
Rubio set to meet pope in Vatican following Trump criticism of pontiff
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will meet Pope Leo at the Vatican on Thursday to try to calm tensions after Donald Trump’s repeated criticisms of the first North American pontiff.
With relations between the Holy See and Washington at an unprecedented low, Rubio is expected to see
Culture contests from Eurovision to Venice Biennale eclipsed by politics
Are the arts being drowned out by politics? A few days before Europe’s biggest cultural week, that impression is hard to shake. The Venice Biennale opens its doors to the public on Saturday, yet the run‑up conversation has centred far more on which national pavilions will be accessible