The Caricom headquarters in Guyana
March 4, 2025
Friends and ‘frenemies’ on a tortuous foreign relations road
United States Senator Lisa Murkowski’s recent declaration that “…foreign policy is not for the faint of heart”, could easily be applied to the tortuous foreign relations road ahead for our Caribbean region.
Given the current state of affairs, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) will no doubt be forced to dig deep into its diplomatic bag of skills in order to effectively navigate the thorny issues now about to be presented by the conflicting agenda of its members and associates.
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To begin with, the US is ramping up its opposition to Venezuela and Cuba, two of Caricom’s long-standing partners. At the same time, Venezuela and Caricom member Guyana are practically rattling sabres.
In the midst of this, the Caricom leadership is preparing to craft a position to seek common ground with the new Donald Trump Administration, with immigration a central issue.
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The US State Department, under Secretary Marco Rubio, has conjured up a headache for Caribbean nations, which benefit from desperately needed Cuban medical doctors and nurses, the so-called medical brigades, by threatening sanctions against beneficiary countries. Jamaica is among them.
A week ago, Mr Rubio announced that the State Department was expanding existing Cuba-related visa restrictions targeting “forced labour linked to the Cuban labour export programme”, notably Cuba’s overseas medical missions.
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Mr Rubio said the restrictions would apply to current or former Cuban Government officials and foreign Government officials who are believed to be involved in the programme, as well as their immediate family members.
The Jamaican Government might wish to say what is its position on this ticklish issue, or whether it plans to be part of any wider Caricom stance.
At the same time, the US and Caricom have reprimanded Venezuela for a March 1 incursion by its military vessels against one of Guyana’s Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platforms in Guyana’s maritime territory.
“Venezuelan naval vessels threatening ExxonMobil’s floating production, storage and offloading unit is unacceptable and a clear violation of Guyana’s internationally recognised maritime territory,” the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said. “Further provocation will result in consequences for the Maduro regime.”
Further, Guyana, in January, complained to the United Nations that Venezuela planned to elect a governor to rule the disputed oil-rich western Essequibo region comprising two-thirds of Guyana in breach of a 2022 agreement not to escalate tensions between them.
Both the matters involving the US sanctions against Cuba and the Guyana-Venezuela dispute are landing squarely in the lap of Caricom.
Member countries affected by the US visa restrictions, if not Cuba, an associate member, will no doubt need the regional negotiating machinery at their disposal, putting Caricom in the cross hairs of the US.
Guyana, which needs both Caricom and the US, might not want to back Cuba who is a staunch ally of Venezuela.
Indeed, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel attended the swearing-in of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January this year at a time when the US and several Western allies were accusing Mr Maduro of rigging the presidential elections.
For Caricom, it is indeed a tangled web.
