CARICOM, Cuba and West Berlin
“The delusion lies with those who take the doings of the Trump regime as anything more than an edifice built on lies and illusions. It represents an inherently unstable interim, not an era.” — Patrick Lawrence
CARICOM’s 50th-anniversary summit opened with much talk about democracy, sovereignty, and dictatorship. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Trinidad’s prime minister, was effusive in her praise for Mr. Trump and Secretary Rubio. None of the leaders dared to stand up for Cuba and express gratitude for its assistance. In fact, Cuba was on trial.
Images from the opening ceremony told a story that might have escaped many viewers. We saw Arab men from rich Middle Eastern states occupying prominent seats in the audience. The hypocrisy was striking. Cuba was condemned as a dictatorship without democracy, competitive elections and the rule of law.
Saudis, Qataris, and Kuwaitis were in that room. None of these countries holds competitive elections. All of them are dictatorships, but to paraphrase former American president Harry Truman, they may be sons of a bitch, but they are our sons of a bitch. The hypocrites who howl about Cuba’s need to democratise their eyes to these blaring contradictions. They see no evil, hear no evil, yet continue to justify and condone evil whenever it serves their interests.
Evidently, money can buy respect, so rich despotic Arabs can hobnob at CARICOM’s summit. Military capability generates fear if not respect. North Korea gets the worst press, but it owns nuclear weapons. Trump dares not encircle or threaten to bomb it out of existence. Until humanity evolves a more sophisticated humanitarian consciousness, evil will be celebrated as glamour and glory.
The reader may ask what these introductory sentences have to do with Cuba and West Berlin. Most may be too young to know of the crisis in West Berlin. At the end of World War 2, the Allied forces of the Soviet Union, the United States, and England triumphantly defeated Nazi Germany. Their combined effort saved the world from German fascism. But there was a problem. Defeated Germany was divided into East and West. East Germany was controlled by the Soviet military, except for the western part of Berlin. The US was determined to make West Berlin into a capitalist showcase. The Soviets frown on that proposal and built what became known as the Berlin Wall. West Berlin survived only because the Western capitalist societies airlifted anything and everything into the city in defiance of the Soviet Union.
A similar mission is urgently needed if Cuba is not to be choked into submission. But is the world up to the task? Will CARICOM lead the way? If the rhetoric from St. Kitts is any guide, our region is about to fail itself: plenty of talk but no action.
Speaking at the CARICOM summit, Jamaica’s Andrew Holness said, “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.
“It is therefore important that we carefully consider this matter and take collective action. 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.”
Holness recognises the problem, but says nothing about who created the humanitarian crisis and suffering. Within a few short steps from the podium where Holness spoke was Mario Rubio, the American Secretary of State and the main driver of the tightened American embargo of Cuba. Two weeks before the summit, Mr. Holness’ government refused to sell liquefied petroleum gas to Cuba.
Holness spoke a lot about the Cuban people. One searched in vain for mention of the Cuban government. He talked about the exemplary service of Cuban doctors and teachers across the Caribbean. Did he stop to think how they got there? While he tacitly helps American regime change operations in Cuba, has he given thought to why America, with an abundance of physical and natural resources, has never offered doctors and teachers in ways the Cuban government does?
In much the same way that the West helped West Berlin to thrive during the Cold War, the world must come to Cuba’s assistance. Humanity should hang its collective head in shame if the United States is allowed to strangle Cuba into submission. This is not the dark ages. We are living in the third decade of the 21st century.
Jamaica should become the hub through which all Caribbean governments and people should send assistance to Cuba if only to stave off this American-inspired humanitarian disaster. If Cuba is allowed to bend to American pressure, it will live long as a day of infamy.
Jan. 3, 2026, the day President Trump kidnapped President Maduro, is a marker of unimaginable significance. To choke off Cuba, Venezuela was coerced into submission –no more fuel for Havana. Cuba is the big prize. Sixty-seven years of resistance and defiance, and 10 U.S. presidents are too much for the empire to stomach.
The Trump regime, which sponsored and remains complicit in an Israeli genocide against Palestinians, threatens to engineer regime change in Iran. It has amassed a strike force in West Asia not seen since the 2003 American Invasion of Iraq. One of the Western talking points for war is that the Iranians government is killing its own people.
It has become increasingly apparent that only Russia and China can check the US government’s reckless actions. Just as the US took a stand to ensure that West Berlin survives and thrives in the heart of socialist East Germany, so too must they draw a line and lend immediate support to Cuba.
The Trump regime has made clear its intentions to reshape the world. Two weeks ago, Rubio, to a standing ovation, told Europeans that the last 500 years of European domination of the world were akin to a golden age. He argued that the decolonisation and independence movement was communist inspired and ought to be reversed.
If Russia and China stand back as they did by abstaining at the UN Security Council and effectively give Trump control over Gaza and allow America to decapitate Venezuela, strangulate Cuba, and annihilate Iran, a triumphant Washington would place them squarely into its regime change crosshairs.
To resist then might be too late. Barbarism would triumph, and we would have truly arrived at the end of history.