Dr. Jacqueline Laguardia Martinez holds a PhD in Economics from the College of Havana and at present serves as a Senior Lecturer on the Institute of Worldwide Relations at The College of the West Indies (The UWI). Beforehand, she was an Affiliate Professor on the College of Havana and a Analysis Affiliate on the Cuban Institute for Cultural Analysis ‘Juan Marinello’. Dr. Laguardia Martinez has an in depth tutorial portfolio, having participated in quite a few scholarly occasions, delivered lectures, and undertaken educating tasks throughout North America, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. She is a member of the Cátedra de Estudios del Caribe ‘Norman Girvan’ on the College of Havana and co-coordinates the CLACSO Working Group on “Disaster, respuestas y alternativas en el Gran Caribe”.
The place do you see probably the most thrilling analysis/debates taking place in your area?
In Worldwide Relations of the Caribbean, a few of the most stimulating analysis is at present centered on financial resilience and sustainability, given the area’s susceptibility to local weather change and different excessive meteorological occasions. Caribbean small states present poor financial progress, excessive dependence on meals imports, and have restricted choices for financial diversification because of the decreased landmass and small inhabitants in most Caribbean territories. Exceptions embody nations corresponding to Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and Jamaica, which have achieved a point of industrialization and possess fossil gasoline sources and minerals. The opposite Caribbean islands closely depend on tourism and different companies to generate international forex for importing meals and vitality sources.
Contemplating the event challenges that Caribbean Small Island Growing States (SIDS) face immediately, key debates are centered round attaining meals safety, vitality safety, adapting to local weather change, financial improvement, and regional integration and cooperation. These discussions happen throughout the context of world transitions that disrupt conventional alliances and compel Caribbean SIDS to discover various partnerships with rising powers and multilateral blocs. Moreover, essential debates are going down within the areas of crime and safety, migration, cultural and inventive industries, and technological change, notably with the prolonged use of synthetic intelligence and its implications for the Caribbean.
How has the best way you perceive the world modified over time, and what (or who) prompted probably the most vital shifts in your considering?
My understanding of the world has advanced considerably, influenced by each tutorial and private experiences. My preliminary undergraduate diploma was in Economics, and I specialised on this self-discipline throughout my postgraduate research, acquiring a grasp’s diploma in worldwide economics and a PhD in Economics. Nevertheless, since my undergraduate years, I’ve been inclined in direction of interdisciplinary analysis by recognizing the interconnectedness of financial, social, and environmental points. Early in my profession, I carried out analysis in Environmental Economics, and my PhD analysis venture centered on Cultural Industries. This pursuit of close by disciplines and buying a broader view of financial points as social issues led me to finish two extra undergraduate levels in Historical past and Cultural Research.
The chance to interact in tutorial collaborations by collaborating in scholarly occasions throughout completely different areas has uncovered me to numerous viewpoints and methodologies, enriching my understanding of the world, its peoples and their circumstances. Working carefully with Caribbean specialists has deepened my concentrate on points pertinent to the Wider Caribbean. Mentorship from esteemed colleagues and interactions with influential students have been instrumental in shaping my considering. I need to acknowledge my lecturers and friends in Cuba, notably my colleagues on the Middle for Worldwide Financial Analysis (CIEI), the Cuban Institute for Cultural Analysis Juan Marinello, the Cuban Observatory for Guide and Literature, the Middle for Research of the Cuban Economic system (CEEC), and the “Norman Girvan” Chair of Caribbean Research on the College of Havana.
Regional networking has been very important for growing my analysis and educating abilities. Collaborating in joint initiatives throughout the Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO) for nearly 30 years has been a useful expertise that allowed me to develop as a younger researcher and Latin American/Caribbean scholar.
As a researcher and lecturer for each the College of Havana and the College of the West Indies, do you discover there to be open collaboration between lecturers in your area throughout these establishments?
There’s a sense of open collaboration amongst lecturers within the area of Caribbean Research within the area, and the College of Havana and the College of the West Indies are not any exception. Through the years, robust collaboration hyperlinks have flourished between the “Norman Girvan” Chair of Caribbean Research on the College of Havana, and the St. Augustine and Cave Hill campuses of the College of West Indies. That is evident by means of numerous initiatives, together with joint panels on the Worldwide Conferences of Caribbean Research in Havana for over 20 years, in addition to joint participation in tutorial occasions, analysis initiatives, and worldwide area journeys with UWI college students visiting the College of Havana. These platforms encourage cross-disciplinary dialogue and the sharing of analysis, fostering a collaborative setting.
In December 2019, The UWI-College of Havana Centre for the Sustainable Growth of Caribbean Individuals was established on the College of Havana. I hope this new step in direction of strengthening tutorial collaboration could have a optimistic influence on broadening and deepening the hyperlinks between lecturers in each universities.
The USA has seen a drastic shift in international coverage underneath the second Trump administration, together with controversial statements relating to a return of territories just like the Panama Canal to American Sovereignty. What does this new path sign for the sovereign states of the Caribbean? What has the response been by related actors?
The second Trump administration’s international coverage has been characterised by a extra aggressive and expansionist strategy in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the Monroe Doctrine. The Caribbean has already felt the influence of elevated U.S. interventionist insurance policies, which might undermine the sovereignty of Caribbean states. A latest instance contains the announcement by the U.S. authorities to cancel visas for anybody working with or supporting Cuban medical brigades, citing allegations of pressured labor and claiming these missions “enrich the Cuban regime.” The U.S. State Division acknowledged that the restrictions would prolong to “present or former Cuban authorities officers, and different people, together with international authorities officers, who’re believed to be answerable for, or concerned in, the Cuban labor export program, notably Cuba’s abroad medical missions” (U.S. Division of State, February 25, 2025).
Caribbean leaders from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica, Grenada, The Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Nevis have denounced the U.S. coverage as unfair and unjustified. Politicians and civil society representatives have acknowledged Cuban medical missions as a important asset for the healthcare techniques within the Caribbean, and highlighted Cuba’s well being cooperation of outmost significance to face COVID-19. Cuba has been a dependable improvement cooperation companion for the Caribbean for over 5 a long time whereas america has lately withdrawn from the Pan American Well being Group (PAHO).
The Caribbean area nonetheless hosts a few of the few states that acknowledge the Republic of China (Taiwan) over the Individuals’s Republic of China. Has this affected the Individuals’s Republic of China’s outlook and technique close to incorporating the area into its Belt and Highway Initiative?
The popularity of Taiwan by sure Caribbean states has influenced the Individuals’s Republic of China technique within the area, because it precludes the Individuals’s Republic of China from partaking at a regional degree with the Caribbean by way of the Caribbean Neighborhood (CARICOM) or the Organisation of Jap Caribbean States (OECS). The PRC maintains diplomatic relations with the vast majority of Caribbean SIDS, with the exceptions of Belize, Haiti, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which proceed to acknowledge Taiwan. With all of them, aside from The Bahamas, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Belt and Highway Initiative (BRI) has been signed. The PRC has enlarged its presence as creditor, investor and cooperation companion within the Caribbean contributing to massive infrastructure developments. Nevertheless, its significance as commerce companion for the area falls behind america and Europe.
To what diploma does the Republic of Cuba take part and cooperate with native worldwide organizations like CELAC and CARICOM? Does its distinctive home scenario influence these processes in any manner?
Though Cuba isn’t a CARICOM member, it maintains diplomatic relations with all Caribbean SIDS and operates embassies in every of them. Cuba sustains a wide selection of cooperation packages with CARICOM Member States in numerous areas, notably in well being, training and catastrophe threat discount. The nation affords scholarship packages to coach medical doctors and different professionals who then return to their Caribbean homelands to contribute to the social welfare of their societies.
A key attribute of Cuba’s cooperation is that the packages are aligned to satisfy the event wants recognized by Caribbean companions. The success of Cuba’s cooperation within the Caribbean might be attributed to the absence of ideological-political circumstances. Regardless of Cuba’s distinctive home scenario, together with its socialist authorities, financial challenges, and growing tensions with america, the island has fruitfully maintained robust diplomatic and cooperation ties with the remainder of the Caribbean.
Opposite to CARICOM, which is a regional group aiming at Caribbean integration, CELAC is a regional mechanism for coordinating political dialogue and cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean. Cuba has been an enthusiastic promoter of regionalism within the Americas with out U.S. interference and subsequently has supported CELAC since its inception. Cuba hosted the II Summit of CELAC in 2014 in Havana and continues to be dedicated to the regional imaginative and prescient propelled by CELAC.
Do you think about the wide selection of ideologies and rising polarization of nationwide governments and political actions throughout Latin America a menace to techniques of worldwide cooperation within the area? What are some unifying components at play, if any?
The rising ideological polarization in Latin America does pose a menace to worldwide cooperation within the area. A transparent instance of how excessive ideologies have undermined Latin American regionalism was Brazil’s withdrawal from CELAC in 2020 throughout Bolsonaro’s presidency, solely to return in 2023 when Lula was re-elected president. The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) additionally succumbed following the decline of the Pink Tide and the rise of right-wing governments extra inclined to nurture bilateral relations moderately than regional establishments, and to domesticate shut relations with america.
One other polarizing challenge in Latin America is the political scenario in Venezuela, particularly the latest elections in 2024 that resulted within the renewed presidency of Nicolás Maduro. The outcomes have been challenged by the proper and middle governments of Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Perú, Panamá and Costa Rica, whereas some left-wing governments corresponding to Brazil and Colombia demanded extra transparency within the course of. The sort of disagreement is detrimental to regional cooperation, political dialogue, and Latin American regionalism.
What do you think about to be probably the most persistent and urgent challenges to Caribbean integration within the modern-day?
The Caribbean faces a myriad of challenges in advancing regional integration. These challenges are multifaceted, encompassing geographic and financial asymmetries. Among the many most persistent challenges, apart from disparities amongst Caribbean states, I acknowledge restricted sources (notably inadequate communications infrastructure), differing nationwide pursuits, and the massive affect of exterior components such because the rise of commerce protectionism, desire for bilateral relations, and the impacts of local weather change and transnational crime, all of which additional complicate integration efforts. Regardless of most CARICOM economies being thought-about weak, poorly diversified, and extremely indebted, they’re labeled as middle-income nations by the World Financial institution as a result of their GDP per capita. This classification prevents them from accessing concessional finance and improvement assist funds. Different components performing towards Caribbean integration embody poor coverage coordination, inadequate financing and credit score mechanisms, and scarce participation of non-state actors. Moreover, the area faces demographic stress because of the emigration of younger and expert labor, depriving the Caribbean of its most respected useful resource: individuals.
The intergovernmental nature of CARICOM, except for the Caribbean Court docket of Justice (CCJ), which capabilities because the tribunal with authentic, obligatory, and unique jurisdiction over the interpretation and utility of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, limits the group’s potential to implement choices successfully. The absence of a supranational authority permits CARICOM member states to ignore agreed-upon actions, weakening the effectiveness of the group’s insurance policies and initiatives. With out accountability mechanisms, commitments might stay unfulfilled, and critics come up to query unhappy objectives corresponding to the total implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economic system (CSME) or the asymmetrical distribution of advantages, leaving smaller and fewer developed CARICOM nations struggling to acquire proportional advantages.
Caribbean integration additionally contends with the presence of a substantial variety of non-independent territories, complicating efforts to realize cohesive regional insurance policies. The present scenario in Haiti, plunged right into a multidimensional disaster the place establishments have crumbled, public companies have deteriorated, financial life is disrupted, and closely armed gangs management 80% of the capital, poses a big threat to regional integration and stability.
As Anthropocene Local weather Change ramps up, Caribbean states are on the frontline of the hazards it poses. What function are regional worldwide organizations taking to deal with these rising issues?
Caribbean states have been actively engaged within the Convention of the Events (COP) conferences. Alongside different SIDS, Caribbean nations have persistently referred to as for elevated monetary help to assist SIDS adapt to and mitigate the impacts of local weather change. This contains funding for renewable vitality initiatives, catastrophe resilience, and sustainable improvement initiatives. The Caribbean has additionally pushed for mechanisms to deal with loss and harm, in search of compensation and help for restoration efforts following excessive climate occasions, in addition to to realize elevated capability constructing and expertise switch, together with coaching, technical help, and entry to climate-friendly applied sciences.
Caribbean islands advocate for extra formidable international emission discount targets to restrict international warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial ranges. CARICOM defends this place, having recognized local weather change as a key improvement problem. The group has additionally manifested its help to the Bridgetown Initiative. This initiative goals to reform the worldwide monetary structure, demanding an pressing replace of the worldwide monetary establishments contemplating latest international challenges corresponding to demographic, technological, financial, geopolitical, and environmental transformations within the context of accelerating inequality and built-in monetary markets within the absence of a global regulatory framework. Whereas the initiative is known as after the capital metropolis of Barbados, the place it originated, it has advanced right into a coalition of companions advocating for international change.
Regional organizations just like the Caribbean Neighborhood Local weather Change Centre (CCCCC), affiliated with CARICOM, play an important function in addressing local weather change issues within the Caribbean. The CCCCC coordinates regional responses, gives coverage recommendation, and implements initiatives geared toward constructing local weather resilience. These organizations additionally facilitate entry to worldwide funding and help for local weather adaptation and mitigation efforts.
What’s a very powerful recommendation you can give to younger students of Worldwide Relations?
My key advice is to stay curious and open-minded to raised perceive complicated and continually evolving international points. Have interaction in discussions together with your friends and specialists in associated disciplines to study numerous views and problem your personal established arguments. In an effort to broaden your capability for studying about different elements of the world and various viewpoints, it’s important to remain knowledgeable by following respected information sources and main developments. Moreover, studying a number of languages is a beneficial asset that can improve your potential to speak and perceive completely different cultures, contexts, and worldviews.
Additional Studying on E-Worldwide Relations
