Humanitarian efforts & Sovereignty; CARICOM Leaders echo both while addressing regional issues involving Cuba

by Kevon Browne

St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—Cuba was a considerable talking point during the opening of the 50th CARICOM Regular Meeting of the Heads of Governments in St. Kitts and Nevis on February 24, 2026.

Cuba is currently facing what many are calling a humanitarian crisis brought on by a U.S. oil blockade that has curtailed fuel and basic supplies to the increasingly isolated Caribbean island, as the Trump administration puts pressure on Cuba’s socialist government.

At the opening, a small group of demonstrators was urging action regarding Cuba.

Many countries in the region benefit from ties with Cuba, through the hiring of medical personnel from the island and through scholarships to its universities, where many doctors in St. Kitts and Nevis were trained.

The benefits are now in limbo, as the U.S. has imposed sanctions that restrict access.

Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Hon. Dr Terrance Drew, is one such doctor who gained his medical degree in Cuba.

Dr Drew emphasised that a destabilised Cuba will have ripple effects throughout the region.

“History, I said to us this evening, will not measure us by our communiques, but by our courage. And all of the geopolitical matters that are happening in our region have spoken to the matter of Haiti. But the humanitarian situation in Cuba, our community must address. For a destabilised Cuba will definitely affect the whole region. A destabilised Cuba will destabilise all of us. Cuba’s population is anywhere from 9 to 12 million people; excluding Haiti, the rest of CARICOM does not amount to 10 million people. Therefore, if a state within our community is so destabilised, it will affect all of us in the region. And as a matter of course, it is important that the community looks at the humanitarian issue in Cuba and treats it extremely seriously. And the community must serve as a conduit to ensure that there is communication and dialogue between the forces that be, so that the best opportunity can be had. And so I ask the community that even though the situation might be daunting, we have a collective effort to make to stabilise our region.”

The St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister, in a personal testimony, impressed upon the participants of the opening the urgency of the situation in Cuba.

“I must give full disclosure. I studied in Cuba. I lived in Cuba for seven years. I have friends there. I have people who are like family to me. They reach out to me and tell me of their difficulties. Food has become terribly scarce for some. Access to water has been challenging. Garbage fills the streets. Houses without electricity. I can only feel the pain of those who treated me so well when I was a student. I can feel their challenges and their difficulties. I do not get involved in their politics, but as a matter of humanity, it is challenging. I will say it is almost impossible not to feel the pain that the pain that is conveyed to me in messages and calls from those who I lived among. And therefore, I want to bring that to CARICOM so that we can look at the humanitarian situation. And like the others would have said before me, let us devise the mechanisms, the channels, so that we can help the people of Cuba at this particular time.”

While Cuba is not a member of CARICOM, the relationship between Cuba and many of the islands in the community is evident, and Prime Minister Drew urged the bloc to act.

“And so CARICOM can help directly, and CARICOM can become a conduit for conversations so that the best outcome would be had. And so if ever there were a time to recommit ourselves to togetherness, it is now. If ever there was a time to recommit ourselves to togetherness, it is now. Therefore, I call on all of us respecting our sovereignty. And it was put very eloquently by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago that our sovereignty or sovereignties must be respected. But while we do that, and that cannot be compromised, I am hoping that this conference be remembered not merely for eloquence and speeches, not merely for the nice cities of the decorations, not merely for the huge crowd that is here and the excellent entertainment that we had, not merely for the fact that all the leaders are here with us today. But let this be a conference that must be remembered for action, for execution that would have advanced our Caribbean community and civilisation.”

While specific actions were not specified, the sentiment that something must be done was evident, and other regional ministers spoke out against dictatorial regimes.

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, Hon. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, said she sympathises with the people suffering in Cuba, but expressed that in the Caribbean, no one wants to live under a dictatorship; rather, they want free and fair elections.

“And so I ask, why do some CARICOM governments and political parties believe that they and their parties and their supporters should have the right to contest democratic elections, to choose them as leaders, while the Cuban citizens have no right to free and fair elections? And whilst I talk with you, Prime Minister, I empathise with the people, the good people of Cuba, but there is a regime that is a dictatorial one and none of us want that in our country, not one of us, otherwise we wouldn’t be here today. We were all elected by free and fair elections, and so we cannot advocate for others to live under communism and dictatorship, but we want to live here in our CARICOM region under democracy and capitalism. That’s an oxymoron; it’s a contradiction. For ourselves, we want free democracy, but tell the Cuban people, okay, we feel sorry for you, it can’t work. And as you said, Prime Minister, we have to find a mechanism for the humanitarian efforts of the people of Cuba, but at the same time, we cannot and I will not, Trinidad and Tobago will not support a dictatorship in Cuba or anywhere else, we will not support it. What we do is support regular, free, and fair democratic elections in a multi-party system. We are, all citizens must have equality before the law, there must be the rule of law, there must be majority rule and minority rights, we must have the separation of powers and the checks and balances, we must have accountability and transparency, we must have freedom of expression and association, and for us in Trinidad and Tobago, we must have capitalism, we will not support dictatorships.”

Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Hon. Andrew Holness, as the previous Chair of CARICOM, led the discourse on Cuba in his remarks and called for diplomacy between the U.S. and Cuba to mitigate further deterioration affecting the most vulnerable in Cuba.

“Friends, we must address the situation in Cuba with clarity and courage. Cuba is our Caribbean neighbour, its doctors and teachers have served across our region, its people are part of our shared history, but today the Cuban people face severe economic hardship, energy shortages and growing humanitarian strain. Jamaica is sensitive to the struggles of the Cuban people; humanitarian suffering serves no one. Apart from our fraternal care and solidarity with the Cuban people, it must be clear that a prolonged crisis in Cuba will not remain confined to Cuba. It will affect migration, security and economic stability across the Caribbean basin. It is therefore important that we carefully consider this matter and take collective action. Let there be no doubt: Jamaica stands firmly for democracy, human rights, political accountability, and open, market-based economies. We do not believe that long-term stability can exist where economic freedom is constrained and political participation is limited. Sustainable prosperity requires openness to ideas, enterprise, investment, and the will of the people. This moment, therefore, calls not for rhetoric but for responsible statecraft, even as we encourage support for humanitarian relief. Jamaica supports constructive dialogue between Cuba and the United States aimed at de-escalation, reform and stability. We believe there is space, perhaps more space now than in years past, for pragmatic engagement that protects the Cuban people from any further deterioration in their circumstances and instead promotes national and regional prosperity.”

Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar also addressed the Caribbean as a zone of peace in the face of what she considers narco terrorism in Venezuela.

“We took very careful note of what happened in the CARICOM in 2025, when my government chose to lend support then, then to the Nicolas Maduro regime, and despite repeated threats against two fellow CARICOM members from Venezuela, most of the CARICOM stood against the two, only two were threatened, it was one was Guyana, still under threat, I openly said that if they touch Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago will be there with you and stand with you, and the other was Trinidad and Tobago, we are threatened and we are still threatened by Venezuela, I’ll say a little bit more about that in a moment, so how could a CARICOM be a zone of peace when a narco dictator who imprisoned and killed thousands of civilians and opposition members, you will see recently over 300 persons from the opposition in Venezuela have been released, they were imprisoned because of politics, so how can it be when that regime was threatening violence to two CARICOM member states, there was no voice from the CARICOM, we were talking about a zone of peace, and in my respectful view, my country is not a zone of peace, and I’ll tell you why, because of the unreliability of the CARICOM in the above situation, the Antigua and Guyana, we cannot bind ourselves to the same political ideologies, the same foreign issues, and the same security policies of the entire CARICOM, that’s why I welcome Brazil as well, that we have each our own pathway to walk, depending on what is happening in our country.”

The Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister expressed gratitude to the Trump Administration for their actions against Venezuela in the removal of Nicolas Maduro at the start of 2026.

“Thanks to President Trump, thanks to Secretary Rubio and the US military, I say thank you today for standing firm against narco trafficking, human and arms smuggling originated from Venezuela, that is what we were facing in Trinidad and Tobago, maybe some of you other islands in the Caribbean, your nations do not have that level of illegal migration and of course the crime.”

While there are advocates against the actions by the U.S. toward Cuba and Venezuela, there are those who praise the removal of dictatorial and authoritarian regimes. Persad-Bissessar is the latter.

“In 2025, change of government, change of policy to treat with the drug cartels and the gangs as violent terrorist organisations, the military action by the American military in the Caribbean caused, you know what happened in our country, caused our murders rate to decrease by 42 percent, you know what that meant, there were 257 less murders in TNT, I can say thanks again to President Trump and thanks again to Secretary Rubio, Marco Rubio, I thank them and the US military for the cooperation and what they shared with us for national security matters, maybe in your islands you don’t have the kind of crime we have, I know Prime Minister Hosnes, we tried to pass the Oslo Bill in Trinidad, we were not as fortunate as you in the parliament but I know you have done well with your murder rate, so some of us the crime is so bad, I cannot depend on just my military, my protective services and certainly from you in the CARICOM, many of you do not have military or large police services to help us down there, so again I repeat, you know Trinidadians are saying who vex loss but we gained, we gained from the help, I’m saying that military help and I will welcome them again, so we changed the policy and we were able to bring those murders down by 42 percent, as I say that’s 257 less people who would have been dead had we not taken that course of action.”

Cuba was enduring economic hardship before U.S. President Donald Trump cut off oil shipments to the island by blockading the island’s chief supplier, Venezuela, and threatening tariffs on any country that tried to aid Cuba.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators at a recent hearing that the U.S. would like to see a change in the regime, but not through direct U.S. involvement.

After the capture of Maduro, Trump predicted Cuba’s government was “ready to fall” next.