1. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
OF THE CARIBBEAN
U.S. economic policy and the
Caribbean
Dr. Jacqueline LAGUARDIA MARTINEZ

2. USA foreign policy in the Caribbean
• A subset of a wider Latin American policy
• 1823, Monroe Doctrine (John Kerry declared it dead in
November 2013 as an attempt to call for a mutual partnership
with the other countries in the Americas)
• The Caribbean is described as a ‘ USA border’
• The Caribbean has not always been the subject of a clear,
distinctive, and sustained policy (separate policies for Central
America, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and CARICOM)
• Intermittence in valuating the importance of the region
• After the IIWW the Caribbean was of major interest to the USA
(Cold War)

3. James Carter (1977-1981)
• New independent states in the Caribbean
• Caribbean states established diplomatic relations with
Cuba
A BETTER LOOK…
• Creation of new structures: Contingency Joint Task Force
(1979), Caribbean Group for Economic Cooperation and
Development (1977), Caribbean & Central American Action
• More economic assistance: from 96 millions in 1977 to
184 millions in 1981

4. Ronald Reagan (1981 – 1989)
“The Caribbean region is a vital strategic and commercial
artery for the United States. Make no mistake: the well-being
and security of our neighbors are in our vital interest”.
Ronald Reagan (1982)
• 1980´s: The Caribbean Basin Initiative (included
Central America) / Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery
Act (CBERA, 1983). The 87% of Caribbean imports
already were tax free…
• Aid conditioned to political and ideological positions
rather than real economic needs
• Minor importance: external debt, poverty, crime,
drugs, technical capacity building
• 1983: Invasion to Grenada

5. End of the Cold War
• Global dimension more important than the regional
projection
• Focus on: open global markets for USA goods,
appropriate climate for USA investments, to align global
trade and investment negotiations with the USA own
agenda
• Negotiation of NAFTA (Mexico in a better position)
• The Caribbean is no longer a priority
• During the 90´s: decreased the assistance funds (54% to
Haiti, 25% to Jamaica, 17% to Dom. Rep.)
• BILATERAL APPROACH (case by case)

6. Change of millennium
• 1990: Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Expansion Act (CBI
II)
• 1991: Agreement Concerning a USA-CARICOM Council on
Trade and Investment
• 1994: NAFTA
• 1997: Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the
Caribbean (Bridgetown Accord)
• 2000: Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA or CBI III)
until 2020 (as response to NAFTA)
• 2001: Caribbean Third Border Initiative
• 2006: Dominican Republic-Central America-USA Free Trade
Agreement (CAFTA-DR) (previous FTA with CARICOM,1998)
• 2006: Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership
Encouragement (HOPE)

7. What the Caribbean wants?
•a trading partner (May, 2013: USA-
CARICOM Trade and Investment
Framework Agreement (TIFA))
•a source of assistance
•a safety valve for migration
•…
a Free Trade Agreement?

8. USA current domestic issues
•The economy in the face of a global
financial crisis/dealing with recession
•Healthcare reform
•Migration
•Racism
•Energy
•Education
•Fiscal budget, fiscal deficit
•Drugs

9. USA external challenges
•Withdraw US forces from Iraq, Afghanistan
•Israel Palestine conflict
•Middle East
•Terrorist menaces
•Iran, Syria, Russia
•Leftist regimes in Latin America (ALBA)
•Terrorism
•Drugs
Where is the Caribbean?

10. Source: Annita Montoute, Caribbean-China Economic Relations: wha are the Implications?

11. Source: Annita Montoute, Caribbean-China Economic Relations: wha are the Implications?

12. 5th Summit of the Americas,
2010
Obama was described as “a breath of fresh
air”
Obama’s policy platform on Latin America
and the Caribbean states his commitment to
re-establish U.S. leadership in the
hemisphere and to increase
democracy, security and economic
opportunity in the region.
Obama recognized the significance of the
region in relation to:
trade, security, environmental risks (climate

14. Las venas abiertas de América
Latina, by Eduardo Galeano
Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the
Pillage of a Continent is a book written
by Uruguayan journalist, writer and poet Eduardo
Galeano, and published in 1971
In the book Galeano analyzes the history of Latin
America as a whole, from the time period of the
European settlement of the New World to
contemporary Latin America, describing the effects of
European and later United States economic
exploitation and political dominance over the region

15. What really happened
• Mérida Initiative (2008)
• IV Fleet (2008)
• Coup d'état in Honduras (2009)
• Military bases in Latin America and the
Caribbean
• Military training
• Wall construction in the Mexican border
• Blockade vs. Cuba (formally since 1962)

16. Obama and Cuba
• He endorsed lifting restrictions on Cuban
Americans traveling to the island or sending money
to relatives
• He would be willing to meet with the leaders of the
country without preconditions
• “There’s nothing more naive,” affirmed Obama in
May 2008, “than continuing a policy that has failed
for decades.”
But also…
• Obama told Florida's Cuban-Am community on May
23, 2008, that:
 “My policy toward Cuba will be guided by one word:
'libertad’”
 “I will maintain the embargo”

17. Obama administration towards
Cuba• Ignored U.S. demands to remove ALL Cuba travel ban
(roll back the Clinton era Cuba travel )
• Ignored demands to remove the blockade
• When he offered on April 13, 2009 minor modifications
relaxation of measures against Cuba, the
instrumentation take months (easing the amounts and
forms of remittances)
• Remained essentially the position of his predecessors of
the need for “regime change in Cuba”, created
mechanisms to organize and promote the internal
counterrevolution
• Bases its rankings in denying legitimacy to the
Revolution, the government and its institutions,
confrontation based on human rights and fundamental
freedoms

18. About Cuba and the USA
• Carlos Alzugaray, Anti-Hegemony in Theory and
Practice: The Exceptional Case of Cuba
• Louis A. Pérez, Jr., Cuba as an Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder