By Bert Wilkinson, Freelance WriterHAVANA, (IPS):
BASKING IN a warm welcome from Cuban President Fidel Castro, Caribbean leaders have suggested that they could bring the communist state together with its long-time adversary, the United States.
Thirteen of 15 Caribbean heads of state and Government flew aboard a Cuban plane to Havana on Saturday for a weekend summit to honour the region's trailblazing efforts exactly 30 years ago to open relations with Castro's isolated regime.
Today, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations say they are ready to ratify a trade deal with Cuba and hinted that the country's entry into its regional club is inevitable.
"We have made it clear to all our friends in the international and regional community that this is the way to go. Grenada would be the first one to support it," said the country's Prime Minister, Keith Mitchell.
Grenada broke off relations with Cuba after U.S. soldiers invaded its shores in 1983, but restored them in 1997 and now has more than 100 students studying in the communist state, on scholarships largely funded by the Cuban Government.
About 2,500 students from CARICOM nations are studying in Cuba.
Several Cuban-trained nurses and doctors also work in Grenada, as they do in most CARICOM states.
On Saturday, Castro promised more assistance to his neighbours, including an annual increase in the number of academic scholarships offered to students, and co-operation in the region's fight against the HIV-AIDS pandemic.
He was effusive in praising the move 30 years ago by four Caribbean nations Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago to end his country's pariah status in the region despite pressure from Washington to ignore Castro.
Mexico was the only nation in the hemisphere that did not sever relations with Cuba.
"The Caribbean can always count on the eternal friendship and gratitude and full and total support of your Cuban brothers and sisters," Castro, 76, told the summit meeting.
Only Montserrat, still a British dependency, was not represented at the summit and only Suriname was not represented by its head of Government. Vice-president Jules Adjodha attended instead of President Ronald Venetiaan.
It was the largest group of CARICOM leaders to ever visit Cuba, an indication of how important both sides view relations, officials say. CARICOM Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington, said he hoped the leaders would back suggestions to act as a go-between with the United States and Cuba.
"This state of relations is holding up everything in the hemisphere," said Carrington. "We would like to help to build a bridge between Cuba and the U.S. It is in the Caribbean's interest. The U.S. is dealing with everyone else Vietnam, North Korea why not Cuba?'"
Speaking for CARICOM leaders, Guyana President, Bharrat Jagdeo, called the embargo "anachronistic in this era of globalisation and trade liberalisation.
"Ways must be found for the two countries to work together to normalise their relations for the benefit of the peoples of both countries. The community will continue to urge the normalisation of Cuba-U.S. relations," he added.
Caribbean officials say the next step in cementing relations with Cuba will be biennial and annual conferences between the two sides.
Over the years, Cuba's southern neighbours have allowed it to gradually strengthen relations with the region, and the country has opened embassies from Suriname on the South American mainland to Bahamas just 80 kilometres off the U.S. coast.
CARICOM nations have also opened doors to regional bodies like the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), in part because CTO officials recognised that Cuba would one day become a key player in the regional tourism industry. Today, Cuba welcomes more than one million visitors each year.
By 1993, CARICOM and Cuba had established a joint commission to formally oversee trade and other relations between the two, but that was overshadowed in July 2000 when they formally signed documents establishing a free trade area.
Indications are that, so far, CARICOM is getting the better of trade with Cuba. Figures available up to the end of 2000 show a CARICOM trade surplus of US$8.4 million, with the region selling petrol and petroleum products, ammonia, aluminium hydroxide and steel bars and rods to Cuba.
Earlier this year, Haiti became a full-fledged CARICOM member, after five years of provisional status.
