FORTY years ago,today, the first four independent nations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)—Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago–jointly established diplomatic relations with the Republic of Cuba in defiance of a United States-imposed economic blockade and policy to isolate that Caribbean nation.

Today, in addition to exchanges of diplomatic greetings, various official activities are scheduled to take place in Havana and capitals of Community member states to commemorate the historical accord signed on December 8, 1972 at United Nations headquarters in New York by ambassadors of the CARICOM quartet and Cuba.
The CARICOM Secretariat will also be actively involved, along with embassies of Cuba located across the 14 independent countries of the Community in reinforcing the political and cultural significance of the signed accord four decades ago to lift Cuba out of the “diplomatic cold”. It is recorded as the first such joint initiative by a group of small states at the height of the then prevailing cold war.
In Barbados, the Cuban embassy, which is arranging a special event for Monday at the UWI Cave Hill campus to commemorate that unique initiative, said in a statement yesterday that what the “CARICOM Four” did back in 1972 was to “give the world a real example of dignity and sealed forever the brotherhood between Cuba and nations of the Caribbean Community…”
Monday’s activities, at Cave Hill, a collaborative effort between the UWI and the Cuban embassy of Barbados, will have a special focus on ‘The Meaning and Implications of Cuba-CARICOM Diplomatic Relations in the current Global Politico-economic Environment’.
The scheduled event at the 3Ws Pavilion will feature an address by Sir Shridath Ramphal, who had played a key role in structured engagements that resulted in the historic Cuba/CARICOM accord of 1972.
There will also be a panel discussion on effective forms of deepening relations between the government of Havana (Cuba) and those of the regional economic integration movement.
Head of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), Kenia Serrano, was expected in Jamaica yesterday for a five-day official visit as part of activities arranged to mark the 40th anniversary event.
Across in Guyana, President Donald Ramotar was scheduled to host a “celebration reception” involving representatives of stakeholders in cooperation with the Cuban embassy.
He hailed in a statement, Cuba’s diversified scholarship programme with CARICOM as perhaps the “biggest success story” in the country’s friendship relations with Havana.
The range of scholarships, organised in cooperation with individual CARICOM governments and wholly funded by Cuba, has had a major focus in the areas of health and education.