Barbados diplomat says Caribbean owes a duty to Cuba.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados’ Ambassador to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), David Comissiong, says the current situation in Cuba constitutes a severe humanitarian crisis that demands a significant and meaningful response from all people and governments of conscience.

“And, in light of the ‘special relationship’ that has existed between Cuba and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) over the past 53 years, it most definitely demands a response from the citizens and governments of CARICOM,” Commissiong said in a letter published in the media here.

Since January, the Donald Trump administration has sought to cut off the oil supplies that power Cuba’s energy grid and other critical infrastructure.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that economic reforms could offer the Cuban government a path to easing US pressure. But Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who moved to the United States in 1956, declined to spell out specific conditions but suggested the regime must allow Cubans greater economic freedom, not just political reforms, if it wants relief from Washington’s tightening grip.

Last week, two Mexican ships carrying humanitarian aid docked in Havana’s harbour, with President Claudia Sheinbaum promising that more help was on the way.

The Mexican president insisted that maintaining Cuba’s sovereignty would be a top priority.

In his letter, Commissiong notes that over the past 48 hours, the truly heartrending message of an ordinary Cuban woman has gone viral all over social media.

“It is a message that was issued against the background of the President of the USA radically intensifying the USA’s 64-year-old illegal blockade of Cuba by signing an executive order that imposes punitive US tariffs on any country that dares to supply Cuba with oil.”

Commissioning said that in “that piteous yet dignified message, our Cuban sister speaks to us about the elderly Cubans who are “dying prematurely because the blockade prevents the arrival of medications for heart conditions, high blood pressure and diabetes”.

He said newborn babies that are fighting for their lives because “incubators in Cuba have had to be shut down due to a lack of fuel”; and the “terrorism through hunger” that is currently being inflicted on the Cuban people through a deliberate US policy to deprive Cuba of food and energy supplies.

The Barbados diplomat urged Caribbean citizens to recall that it was four of “our most revered political leaders”- Prime Ministers Eric Williams, Michael Manley, Forbes Burnham and Errol Barrow – who, in October 1972, took the courageous step of defying “the mighty USA and the Organisation of American States (OAS) and broke the almost ironclad policy of isolation that these two entities had imposed on revolutionary Cuba”.

Commissioning said the “electrifying message” sent by the four leaders to the world back then was that the independent English-speaking Caribbean states, exercising their sovereign right to enter into relations with any other sovereign state and pursuing their determination to seek regional solidarity and to achieve meaningful and comprehensive cooperation among all Caribbean countries, will seek the early establishment of relations with Cuba.

“To this end, the independent English-speaking Caribbean states will act together based on agreed principles,” he said, noting that this then became the foundation for the establishment of a “special relationship” between Cuba and CARICOM, as evidenced by the establishment of embassies and the exchange of ambassadors between Cuba and every single independent CARICOM country.

He said Cuba also extended a range of invaluable services to the people and nations of CARICOM in the fields of medicine, education, sports, the arts, agriculture, disaster response, and the list goes on.

“And so, the time has come for us – the people and governments of CARICOM – to do our duty and help our Cuban sisters and brothers to make it through this severe existential crisis.

“Cuba is desperately in need of food, medical supplies, and a range of other essential items, including solar energy heaters and other appliances to help mitigate the energy crisis. Let us – governments and people together – make the effort to contribute significantly to Cuba in this time of extreme need!”

Comissiong also called on the international community to come forward and help Cuba, noting that for some 33 years now, except the United States and Israel, the global community has been voting at the United Nations General Assembly in favour of an annual resolution entitled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”.

He said, very significantly, that the nations that are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) – France, China, the United Kingdom, and Russia – have consistently voted in favour of the anti-embargo resolution.

“The time has therefore now come for these major countries to – as they say – “put their money where their mouths are”! Cuba desperately needs oil and petroleum, and this will require several major countries to step up and not be intimidated by Trump’s tariff threats.

“Surely, nations that have been given the special privilege of being “permanent members” of the UNSC and that therefore have a special responsibility to uphold the tenets of international law and the will of the international community, must be called upon to do the right thing and ensure that this new unconscionable effort to intensify the illegal embargo against Cuba does not succeed!”

Commissioning said Cuba is now the immediate target, but beyond Cuba is the entire edifice of multilateralism and international law as represented by the United Nations organisation that produced “some 33 successive resolutions condemning the US embargo as illegal and demanding its termination.

“We all owe a duty to Cuba. Let us ensure that we live up to that duty. And by doing so, we might find that we would have taken a critical step to preserve the order and safety of the entire human family,” Commissioning added.