GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
GLOBAL
DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
Copyright © 1999 International Development Options
All Rights Reserved
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Volume One Winter 1998-Spring 1999 Numbers 3-4.
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CARIBBEAN CONVERGENCE: CUBA-CARICOM RELATIONS THROUGH 1995
John Walton Cotman
Department of Political Science
Howard University
Washington, D.C. 20059
Published online: December 15, 2016
ABSTRACT
This article examines the remarkable improvement in diplomatic and economic relations between Cuba and the nations of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). After the United States' invasion of Grenada in 1983, Havana's ties with the Anglophone Caribbean deteriorated dramatically. Since the collapse of the Soviet bloc this trend has been reversed. Policymakers in Cuba and the CARICOM states fear that the realities of the post-Cold War global market will overwhelm Caribbean economies. They have been actively promoting regional economic integration in order to optimize their chances for economic survival in the twenty-first century. Despite significant impediments, including efforts by U.S. officials to prevent and reverse Cuba-CARICOM diplomatic and economic cooperation, it has expanded and institutionalized.