Agreement ties Carib nations

Representatives of 25 Caribbean basin countries recently signed an agreement in Cartagena, Colombia, creating a new association that brings together Cuba and the U.S., at least indirectly.

The Association of Caribbean States is aimed at improving economic, cultural, social, scientific and political ties among the 25 independent states and 12 territories signing the pact.

Venezuela is a member in the association, which brings together a diverse group of countries representing 200 million people with a combined gross domestic product of US$500 billion.

The impetus for the plan came from last year’s summit of leaders of the 12 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states — representing the English-speaking countries in the region — and foreign ministers from Central America. And one of the association’s first moves was to call for the return of democracy to Haiti.

Despite the geographic proximity of some countries, trade and other relations often have been separated, falling mostly under either the English-speaking or Spanish-speaking associations in the region.

Cuban President Fidel Castro was in Colombia to attend personally as part of his efforts to end Havana’s diplomatic and economic isolation. Despite a three-decade-old U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, the U.S. was to indirectly take part in the association through the commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, associate members of the group. Full members in the association include Antigua and

Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, El Salvador, Mexico, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, St. Christopher and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Suriname, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago. Associate members include the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, the French overseas departments of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana, British dependencies of Anguila, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the British Virgin Islands and the Dutch islands of Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles.