By Anthony Joseph

There are moments when Caribbean leaders must speak not simply for their own countries, but from the accumulated experience of a region that has spent centuries living in the shadow of great powers.

Former St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves did precisely that in Washington, D.C., during an address hosted by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century. Speaking in a historic church where Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro had once spoken, Gonsalves delivered an uncompromising assessment of the relationship between Cuba and the United States.

“The most powerful country that the world has ever seen, the United States of America, is starving Cuba to death,” he declared.

Those are extraordinarily strong words. But Gonsalves was not simply attacking Washington. His larger argument deserves attention: after more than six decades of hostility, punishment and political stalemate, what exactly has the policy accomplished? His answer was essentially this: not enough to justify the suffering it has caused.

Gonsalves described American hostility toward Cuba as both “unnatural and unnecessary” and insisted repeatedly that “this rupture can be healed.” That may be the most important message from his Washington address.

This was not the intervention of someone unfamiliar with Cuba or the United States. Gonsalves said he has travelled to Cuba since 1976 and, during almost 25 years as prime minister between March 2001 and November 2025, developed relationships with the Cuban leadership and Cuban people. He recalled conversations with Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro and current President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

His conclusion after those decades of engagement is not that Cuba and the United States must agree on everything. It is that disagreement does not require permanent hostility. That distinction matters.

For Caribbean countries, Cuba is not an abstract ideological question left over from the Cold War. Cuba is a Caribbean nation. Its people are our neighbours. Caribbean governments have worked with Havana in health care, education, disaster response and other areas while simultaneously maintaining important relationships with the United States. We therefore have an interest in peace and stability on both sides.

Gonsalves reminded his audience of the long history behind the conflict, including American attempts to acquire Cuba in the 19th century, the Bay of Pigs invasion, CIA activity, support for counter-revolutionaries and the economic embargo. His point was not simply to reopen old wounds. It was to explain why the relationship cannot be understood solely through present-day political arguments.

There is history here. There is psychology. There are economic interests. And, as Gonsalves noted, there is also the influence of presidential politics in South Florida.

But history should help nations understand how they arrived at a conflict. It should not sentence future generations to repeat it forever. That is where Gonsalves’ intervention becomes especially relevant.

Rather than merely condemning U.S. policy, he outlined a path forward.

First, he argued that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC, should become more actively involved. Countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, he said, have direct security and economic interests in normalization between Washington and Havana.

That is an important Caribbean position. Our region should not be expected merely to observe a confrontation involving one of our neighbours. Caribbean and Latin American countries can be participants in diplomacy and advocates for a settlement based on dialogue rather than perpetual punishment.

Second, Gonsalves called for international diplomatic involvement to help broker an appropriate resolution to what he described as a dangerous standoff.

Third, he challenged the United States Congress and Senate to encourage the Trump administration to establish a framework for what he repeatedly called a “mature conversation.”

And fourth, he called for the building of a worldwide alliance supporting dialogue with Cuba, not simply among Americans sympathetic to Cuba, but among countries and peoples in Africa, China, Latin America and elsewhere that want normal economic relations with the island.

These proposals deserve to be considered seriously because sanctions and isolation ultimately have consequences for ordinary people. Governments argue. Politicians make speeches. Administrations change. But ordinary families live with the consequences.

When economic pressure contributes to shortages and hardship, it is children, seniors, patients and working families who experience those conditions in their daily lives. Gonsalves specifically drew attention to the suffering of children and the sick. Whatever one’s political opinion of the Cuban government, their suffering should not become an acceptable instrument of foreign policy.

There is also a lesson here for the Caribbean diaspora in Canada. We understand perhaps better than most that nations with different histories and political systems can still find ways to coexist. Canada itself has maintained a very different relationship with Cuba from that of the United States.

The Caribbean community should therefore not dismiss Gonsalves’ appeal as simply another argument about Fidel Castro, communism or the Cold War. The question before us is much more contemporary: Do we believe that after more than six decades, isolation will suddenly produce an outcome that it has repeatedly failed to produce? Or is it time to test sustained diplomacy, economic engagement and mutual respect?

Anthony Joseph is the publisher of The Caribbean Camera newspaper. He writes on politics, culture, and the intersection of race and democracy in Canada.

#CaribbeanCamera #RalphGonsalves #Cuba #USCubaRelations #CaribbeanNews #CaribbeanDiplomacy #CubaEmbargo #CaribbeanPolitics #CaribbeanDiaspora #AnthonyJoseph