Caribbean Archive

Recent visits to Cuba by a bevy of European and Asian leaders highlight a key element of Raul Castro’s foreign policy that he has pursued alongside normalization with the United States: Don’t put all of Cuba’s eggs in one international basket. Cuba learned this lesson the hard way. Pre-revolutionary dependence on the United States, followed by post-revolutionary dependence on the Soviet Union, twice plunged Cuba into economic crisis when those ties were severed. Although less drastic, the current austerity triggered by the decline in oil shipments from Venezuela underscores the danger of relying on a single foreign partner. Cuba’s leaders […]

Good economic news out of the Caribbean has been few and far-between in recent years. For most countries in the region, the aftermath of the global financial crisis has been full of vicious cycles of slow growth, rising debt, increased unemployment, mounting crime and falling foreign direct investment. Attempts to break out of this pattern have largely failed, leading to increased misery for those who stay and the uncertainty of emigration for those who leave. While Puerto Rico attracts much of the media attention, the situation is just as dire in a dozen or more Caribbean countries. In September, the […]