Regarding the US military presence in the Caribbean

Joint Declaration of the Chair of Caribbean Studies of the University of Havana and the CLACSO Working Group Crisis, Responses and Alternatives in the Greater Caribbean on the US military presence in the Caribbean

In the context of the current US military deployment in the Caribbean, ostensibly to intensify the fight against drug trafficking, the presence of military personnel has been documented whose actions pose a direct threat to peaceful coexistence and the sovereignty of the territories bordering the Caribbean Sea. This action contradicts the sustained efforts of the region's states to consolidate the Caribbean as a zone of peace, as recognized by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). These actions are in addition to the escalating pressure and sanctions implemented by the Trump Administration, which, in the Greater Caribbean area, primarily target Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela.
The introduction of advanced military technology, particularly the presence of the nuclear submarine USS Newport News, exacerbates the already fragile situation of environmental vulnerability in the region.

This fact is incompatible with the historical position of Latin America and the Caribbean, committed to the safe and exclusively peaceful use of nuclear technologies, as established in the Treaty of Tlatelolco (1967) and supported by international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations.

Given this situation, the Chair of Caribbean Studies at the University of Havana and the CLACSO Working Group on Crisis, Responses, and Alternatives in the Greater Caribbean, from decolonial and political ecology perspectives, express our firm rejection of the intensified US military presence in the region as a threat to the peace, sovereignty, and peaceful coexistence of Caribbean peoples. We call upon scientific, critical, and situated thought to mobilize in defense of regional sovereignty, environmental justice, and the construction of lasting peace in the Greater Caribbean. In this scenario of military and warmongering offensive, we insist on the importance of calling for the unity and sovereign integration of all Caribbean territories.

September 1, 2025
CLACSO Working Group Crisis, responses and alternatives in the Greater Caribbean
Chair of Caribbean Studies at the University of Havana

This text expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Groups and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.