BASSETERRE, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Feb 25, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - US Secretary of 
State Marco Rubio will seek to address Caribbean leaders' concerns about Cuba 
at a summit on Wednesday, as Washington ramps up pressure on the communist 
island fresh after removing Venezuela's president.

Rubio, a Cuban-American who has spent his political career hoping to topple 
Havana's government, is also looking for sustained cooperation on Venezuela 
and troubled Haiti as he takes part in the summit of the Caribbean Community, 
or CARICOM, which does not include Cuba.

After attending President Donald Trump's State of the Union address to 
Congress, Rubio flew overnight to join the summit in Saint Kitts and Nevis, a 
sun-kissed former British colony of fewer than 50,000 people.

Rubio became the highest-ranking US official ever to visit the tiny country, 
the birthplace of one of the United States' founding fathers, Alexander 
Hamilton.

Trump has reoriented foreign policy toward the Western Hemisphere through his 
"Donroe Doctrine" in which he has vowed unrepentant intervention to advance 
US interests.

After US forces snatched Venezuela's leftist leader Nicolas Maduro in a 
January 3 raid, the Latin American country has been forced to cut off its 
crucial oil shipments to Cuba.

This has plunged Cuba into a further economic morass with fuel shortages and 
rolling blackouts.

Speaking at the opening of the CARICOM summit on Tuesday, Jamaican Prime 
Minister Andrew Holness warned that a further deterioration in Cuba will 
impact stability across the Caribbean and trigger migration -- the top 
political concern for Trump.

"Humanitarian suffering serves no one," Holness said. "A prolonged crisis in 
Cuba will not remain confined to Cuba."

- Plea for 'stability' -

Holness said that Jamaica believed in democracy and free markets -- a rebuke 
to the communist system in Havana -- but called for "humanitarian relief" for 
Cubans.

"Jamaica supports constructive dialogue between Cuba and the United States 
aimed at de-escalation, reform and stability," he said.

"We believe there is space, perhaps more space now than in years past, for 
pragmatic engagement."

The summit's host, Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew, also 
called for humanitarian backing to Cuba, saying: "A destabilized Cuba will 
destabilize all of us."

A medical doctor, Drew studied for seven years in Cuba and said friends there 
have told him of food scarcity, power outages and garbage strewn in the 
streets.

"I can only feel the pain of those who treated me so well when I was a 
student," he said.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Cuba almost continuously since 
Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

Since becoming the top US diplomat, Rubio has publicly toned down calls for 
regime change, and Washington has quietly held discussions with Havana.

Trump and Rubio have threatened sanctions against countries that sell oil to 
Cuba but stopped short of enacting some measures pushed by Cuban-American 
hardline critics of Havana, such as prohibiting the transfer of remittances.

- 'Elephant in the room' -

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, said she 
empathized with the Cuban people but took issue with her Jamaican 
counterpart's remarks.

"We cannot advocate for others to live under communism and dictatorship," she 
said.

She also criticized CARICOM countries for their reticence, at least publicly, 
to back what she called the "elephant in the room" -- US intervention in 
Venezuela.

Trinidad and Tobago, whose coast is visible from Venezuela, gave access to 
the US military in the run-up to the operation that removed Maduro.

The deposed Venezuelan leader faces US charges of narco-trafficking, which he 
denies.

Persad-Bissessar thanked Trump, Rubio "and the US military... for standing 
firm against narco-trafficking, human and arms smuggling."

The Trump administration has been carrying out deadly strikes against alleged 
drug boats in the Caribbean, drawing criticism by those who say the attacks 
are legally and ethically dubious.

The Trinidadian prime minister praised the US approach and credited it with 
bringing down her country's homicide rate by helping cut the flow of firearms 
from Venezuela.