Caribbean Region: Issues in U.S. Relations

Congressional research reportOct 27, 2006

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Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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With some 34 million people and 16 independent nations sharing an African ethnic heritage, the

Caribbean is a diverse region that includes some of the hemisphere’s richest and poorest nations.

The region consists of 13 island nations, from the Bahamas in the north to Trinidad and Tobago in

the south; Belize, which is geographically located in Central America; and the two nations of

Guyana and Suriname, located on the north central coast of South America. With the exception of

Cuba and Haiti, regular elections in the region are the norm, and for the most part have been free

and fair. Nevertheless, while many Caribbean nations have long democratic traditions, they are

not immune to threats to their political stability, including terrorism. Many nations in the region

experienced economic decline in 2001-2002 due to downturns in the tourism and agriculture

sectors. Most Caribbean economies have rebounded since 2003, although the extensive damage

resulting from several storms in 2004 caused economic difficulties for several countries.

U.S. interests in the Caribbean are diverse, and include economic, political, and security

concerns. The Bush Administration describes the Caribbean as America’s “third border,” with

events in the region having a direct impact on the homeland security of the United States. It

maintains that Caribbean nations are “vital partners on security, trade, health, the environment,

education, regional democracy, and other hemispheric issues.”

The U.S.-Caribbean relationship is characterized by extensive economic linkages, cooperation on

counter-narcotics efforts and security, and a sizeable U.S. foreign assistance program. U.S. aid

supports a variety of projects to strengthen democracy, promote economic growth and

development, alleviate poverty, and combat the AIDS epidemic in the region. In the aftermath of

several devastating storms in 2004, Congress approved $100 million in emergency supplemental

funding (P.L. 108-324) to support humanitarian efforts and reconstruction in Haiti, Grenada, and

Jamaica. Despite close U.S. relations with most Caribbean nations, there has been tension at times

in the relationship. For example, relations with Caribbean nations became strained in the

aftermath of the departure of Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide from power in February

2004. More recently, Caribbean nations that depend on tourism are concerned about the potential

negative economic effects of a new U.S. requirement, as of January 8, 2007, for U.S. citizens

traveling by air to the Caribbean (as well as to Canada and Mexico) to hold a passport.

This report deals with broader issues in U.S. relations with the Caribbean, including foreign

assistance, anti-drug trafficking and anti-money laundering cooperation, support to combat the

HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region, and security concerns such as port security and border security

efforts. It does not include an extensive discussion of Haiti and Cuba. U.S. policy toward these

Caribbean nations is covered in the following products: CRS Report RL32294, Haiti:

Developments and U.S. Policy Since 1991 and Current Congressional Concerns, by (name re

dacted) and (name redacted

); and CRS Report RL32730,

Cuba: Issues for the 109th

Congress, by (name redacted).

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Most Recent Developments............................................................................................................. 1

Conditions in the Region................................................................................................................. 2

Overview of U.S.-Caribbean Relations ........................................................................................... 3

U.S. Foreign Assistance................................................................................................................... 6

Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering Issues............................................................................. 7

Trade Issues ..................................................................................................................................... 9

Movement Toward Free Trade ................................................................................................ 10

Third Border Initiative and Security Issues................................................................................... 12

Crime ............................................................................................................................................. 14

Caribbean Energy Security............................................................................................................ 14

HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean .......................................................................................................... 15

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms .................................................................................................... 17

U.S. Humanitarian and Reconstruction Assistance................................................................. 18

Legislative Initiatives in the 109th Congress.................................................................................. 20

Caribbean-American Heritage Month............................................................................... 20

Afro-Descendant Communities ........................................................................................ 20

Social Investment and Economic Development Fund ...................................................... 20

Debt................................................................................................................................... 20

Education .......................................................................................................................... 20

Document Requirements................................................................................................... 20

Trade ................................................................................................................................. 21

Port Security ..................................................................................................................... 21

HIV/AIDS ......................................................................................................................... 21

Tsunami Detection and Warning....................................................................................... 21

Commercial Whaling ........................................................................................................ 22

Cuba .................................................................................................................................. 22

Guyana .............................................................................................................................. 22

Haiti .................................................................................................................................. 22

Jamaica.............................................................................................................................. 22

Montserrat......................................................................................................................... 23

For Additional Reading ................................................................................................................. 23

Figure 1. Caribbean Region........................................................................................................... 29

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Table 1. Caribbean Countries: Basic Facts.................................................................................... 24

Table 2. Caribbean Leaders and Elections..................................................................................... 24

Table 3. U.S. Imports from Caribbean Countries .......................................................................... 25

Table 4. U.S. Exports to Caribbean Countries............................................................................... 26

Table 5. U.S. Foreign Assistance to the Caribbean, FY2003-FY2007 .......................................... 26

Table 6. U.S. Foreign Assistance to the Caribbean FY2006 Estimates and FY2007

Requests ..................................................................................................................................... 27

Author Contact Information .......................................................................................................... 30

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On October 4, 2006, the President signed into law the FY2007 Department of Homeland Security

Appropriations Act (P.L. 109-295, H.R. 5441), which has a provision (Section 546) extending the

deadline requiring U.S. citizens traveling by land or sea between the United States and the

Caribbean (as well as Canada, Mexico, and Central and South America) to have passports or

other documents denoting identity and citizenship. The deadline was extended from January 1,

2008, to June 1, 2009, or earlier if the Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security

jointly certify certain criteria regarding the new document or passport card being developed. A

deadline of January 8, 2007, remains in place for U.S. citizens to have passports for travel by air

between the United States and the Caribbean (as well as Canada and Mexico.)

On August 28, 2006, Guyana held national elections in which President Baharrat Jagdeo was reelected with almost 55% of the vote. Some observers had anticipated political violence, but the

elections were the most peaceful and orderly in recent history, according to the Carter Center,

which observed the elections.

On July 3, 2006, Haiti’s participation in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was formally

reinstated at the organization’s summit in St. Kitts and Nevis. Haiti’s participation had been

suspended after the departure of President Jean Bertrand Aristide from power in February 2004.

On June 12, 2006, the House approved H.Res. 792 (Meeks) by voice vote, recognizing the 40th

anniversary of Guyana’s independence and extending best wishes to Guyana for peace and further

development, progress, and prosperity.

On April 22, 2006, Guyana’s Agriculture minister, along with his two siblings and a security

guard, were shot and killed in an apparent robbery.

On April 12, 2006, U.S. and CARICOM trade officials meeting in Washington began preliminary

exploration of a potential free trade agreement. The officials also agreed to revitalize a dormant

U.S.-CARICOM Trade and Investment Council that had originally established in the early 1990s.

On March 30, 2006, Portia Simpson Miller was sworn in as Jamaica’s first female Prime Minister.

She replaced outgoing Prime Minister P.J. Patterson as the leader of the ruling People’s National

Party who had governed since 1992.

On March 22, 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with CARICOM foreign ministers

in Nassau, Bahamas. She maintained that the United States wants to deepen its relations with the

region and called for support for the new democratically elected government in Haiti.

On February 14, 2006, the Senate approved H.Con.Res. 71 (Lee), by unanimous consent,

expressing the sense of Congress that there should be established a Caribbean-American Heritage

Month. (The House had approved the resolution on June 27, 2005.) Subsequently, on June 5,

2006, President Bush proclaimed June as Caribbean-American Heritage Month.

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The Caribbean, encompassing 16 independent nations, is a diverse region of some 34 million

people that includes some of the hemisphere’s richest and poorest nations (see Table 1). The

region consists of 13 island nations, from the Bahamas in the north to Trinidad and Tobago in the

south; Belize, which is geographically located in Central America; and the two nations of Guyana

and Suriname, located on the north central coast of South America. Many countries in the region

share a common African ethnic and British colonial heritage, while Cuba and the Dominican

Republic were Spanish colonies, Haiti was French, and Suriname was Dutch. The dates of

independence of these countries range from Haiti in 1804 to St. Kitts and Nevis in 1983. The

largest nations in terms of land area are Guyana and Suriname, while those with the largest

populations are Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. The island nations of the Eastern

Caribbean are among the smallest countries in the world. Politically, all Caribbean nations, with

the exception of communist Cuba, have elected democratic governments. Most of the former

British colonies have parliamentary forms of government, with the exception of Guyana, the

Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Suriname, which are republics headed by presidents.

In terms of regional integration, 14 of the region’s independent nations belong to the Caribbean

Community (CARICOM), with the exception of the Dominican Republic (which has observer

status) and Cuba. CARICOM was formed in 1973 to spur regional economic integration. Some

critics argue that it has been slow to promote integration, compared to other regional economic

groupings, but progress has been made in moving toward a single economic market and in

establishing a Caribbean Court of Justice. In addition to CARICOM, six Eastern Caribbean

nations are members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the subregional

organization designed to stimulate economic integration and foreign policy harmonization. The

six OECS nations also share a common currency, the Eastern Caribbean dollar, with monetary

policy managed by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. The Caribbean Development Bank

(CDB), headquartered in Barbados, promotes economic development and regional integration.

With the exception of Cuba and Haiti, regular elections have been the norm, and for the most part

have been free and fair. In 2005, Dominica and Suriname held elections in May, and St. Vincent

and the Grenadines held elections in December. Haiti was expected to hold elections in 2005, but

significant problems and political instability resulted in those elections being postponed several

times, until they were ultimately held on February 7, 2006. Guyana was scheduled to have

presidential elections before the constitutional deadline of August 4, 2006, but the Guyana

Elections Commission decided in April to postpone the elections in order to provide more time to

improve the accuracy of the electoral register. Successful elections ultimately were held on

August 28, 2006, without the political violence that some observers had anticipated. Looking

ahead, parliamentary elections are due in St. Lucia by December 2006, while elections in the

Bahamas, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago are due in 2007. (See Table 2 for a listing of leaders

and elections for head of government.)

Although many Caribbean nations have maintained long democratic traditions, they are not

immune from terrorist and other threats to their political stability. In 1993, stability on St. Kitts

was threatened following violent protests after disputed elections; order was restored with the

assistance of security forces from neighboring states. In 1990, the government of Trinidad and

Tobago was endangered by a coup attempt by a radical Muslim sect. Earlier in the 1980s, the

government of Eugenia Charles in Dominica was threatened by a bizarre coup plot involving

foreign mercenaries. And of course, Grenada, under the socialist-oriented government of Maurice

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Bishop, experienced a break from the democratic norm after it assumed power in a nearly

bloodless coup in 1979 and installed a people’s revolutionary government. After the violent

overthrow and murder of Bishop in 1983, the United States intervened to restore order and end

the Cuban presence on the island.

Many Caribbean nations experienced an economic slump in 2001-2002 due to downturns in the

tourism and agriculture sectors, although most Caribbean economies have rebounded since 2003.

Countries that depend on tourism were hurt by the aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist

attacks in the United States and the subsequent U.S. economic recession and sluggish recovery.

The banana and sugar sectors in the Eastern Caribbean were damaged by a tropical storm in 2002

and a drought in 2003. Both sectors face uncertain futures in light of the European Union’s plan

to phase out preferred market access from former Caribbean colonies for bananas by 2006 and for

sugar by 2009. The Haitian economy experienced decline beginning in 2001, with political

instability exacerbating already difficult economic conditions in the hemisphere’s poorest nation.

The strongest performing economies in recent years have been those of the Dominican Republic,

fueled by the apparel sector, and Trinidad and Tobago, with substantial energy resources. In 2003,

however, the Dominican economy experienced a decline in economic growth due to the financial

strains caused by the collapse of one of the largest domestic banks.

In 2004 and 2005, the region’s strongest economic performers averaging growth rates over 5%

for those two years, were Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, St. Kitts, St.

Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Those countries not faring well in 2004 because of

devastating hurricanes and tropical storms included Haiti, with a 3.5%% decline in gross

domestic product (GDP), and Grenada, with a GDP decline of 3%. For 2005, however, Grenada’s

economy rebounded with growth over 5%, while Haiti’s growth was 1.8%. In Guyana, economic

growth has been stagnant or minimal over the past several years. In 2005, the economy declined

3% because of high oil prices and floods, which early in the year severely affected agriculture and

mining activities.1

Overall, concern that rising oil prices could cause an economic setback for some countries has

been alleviated to some extent by Venezuela’s new subsidized oil program for Caribbean

countries known as PetroCaribe. Nevertheless, some observers have also been concerned about

the region’s high level of public debt, with several Caribbean nations having debt levels that

exceed 100% of their GDP.2

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U.S. interests in the Caribbean are diverse, and include economic, political, and security

concerns. During the Cold War, security concerns tended to eclipse other policy interests. In the

aftermath of the Cold War, other U.S. policy interests emerged from the shadow of the East-West

conflict in the Caribbean that focused on concerns about the Soviet and Cuban threat. U.S. policy

priorities shifted from one emphasizing security concerns to a new focus on strengthened

economic relations through trade and investment. Today, in the aftermath of the September 2001

terrorist attacks in the United States, security concerns have re-emerged as a major U.S. interest

U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Economic Survey of Latin American

and the Caribbean, 2005-2006, July 2006.

“Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, Country Report,” Economist Intelligence Unit, September 2006.

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in the Caribbean. The Administration describes the Caribbean as America’s “third border,” with

events in the region having a direct impact on the homeland security of the United States. It

describes Caribbean nations as “vital partners on security, trade, health, the environment,

education, regional democracy, and other hemispheric issues.”3

The United States has close relations with most Caribbean nations, with the exception of Cuba

under Fidel Castro. The U.S.-Caribbean relationship is characterized by extensive economic

linkages, cooperation on counter-narcotics efforts and security, and a sizeable U.S. foreign

assistance program supporting a variety of projects to strengthen democracy, promote economic

growth and development, alleviate poverty, and combat the AIDS epidemic in the region. The

region has had preferential treatment of its exports to the U.S. market since the early 1980s, and

U.S. efforts are now focused on helping the region prepare for hemispheric free trade.

Despite close U.S. relations with most Caribbean nations, there has been tension at times in the

relationship. For example, relations between Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations and the

United States became strained in the aftermath of the departure of President Jean Bertrand

Aristide from power in February 2004. CARICOM nations called for an investigation into the

circumstances surrounding Aristide’s departure, and Haiti’s participation in CARICOM was

suspended. After Haiti held elections in February 2006 leading to the inauguration of Rene Preval

as president, CARICOM subsequently reinstated Haiti’s participation in CARICOM at their July

2006 summit.

Caribbean nations that depend on tourism such as Jamaica and the Bahamas are concerned about

the potential negative effects on tourism in the region because of a new U.S. passport

requirement, as of January 8, 2007, for U.S. citizens traveling by air to the Caribbean, as well as

to Canada and Mexico. (The deadline for the Caribbean originally had been set for December 31,

2005, and applied to air and sea travel.) The new requirement was mandated by the Intelligence

Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-458). The deadline for U.S. citizens

traveling by land and sea to the Caribbean, as well as to Canada and Mexico, had been set for

January 1, 2008. In September 2006, however, Congress approved legislation (P.L. 109-295,

Section 546) extending the deadline for requiring passports (or a passport card currently under

development) for land or sea travel to June 1, 2009, or earlier if the Secretary of State and

Secretary of Homeland Security jointly certify certain criteria regarding the new passport card

being developed.

The Caribbean tourism industry fears that the impact of January 8, 2007, air travel passport

requirement will be catastrophic for Caribbean economies. Americans do not presently need a

passport to travel to several Caribbean islands. For example, in 2005, some 50% of Americans

traveling to Jamaica did not have a passport.4 Caribbean governments also argue that a majority

of tourism revenues are derived from tourists arriving by air and maintain that the recent changes

in U.S. law providing for a different deadline for sea travel was done to appease cruise ship

carriers.5

U.S. Department of State, Congressional Budget Justification, Foreign Operations, FY2006, “Third Border

Initiative,” p. 548.

“OECS, Country Report,” Economist Intelligence Unit, December 2005, p. 33.

Sean Lengell, “U.S. Rules May Hit Caribbean,” Washington Times, Oct. 18, 2006; “U.S. Passport Move Will

Devastate Caribbean Economy,” BBC Monitoring Latin America, Oct. 14, 2006.

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A controversial issue in U.S. relations with the Caribbean has been a World Trade Organization

(WTO) complaint filed by Antigua and Barbuda challenging U.S. restrictions on cross-border

Internet gambling. Antigua, which has invested in Internet gambling as a means of diversifying its

economy, maintains that it has lost millions of dollars because of the U.S. restrictions. In July

2006, the WTO established a dispute resolution panel to determine whether the United States had

complied with a 2005 WTO ruling that backed Antigua’s claim that the U.S. restrictions violate

the United States’ market access commitments under the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in

Services (GATS). Antigua maintains that the United States has taken no action to comply with the

previous ruling.6 In September 2006, Congress approved legislation to crack down on unlawful

Internet gambling (P.L. 109-347, Title VIII, H.R. 4954). CARICOM officials have expressed

concerns about the U.S. inaction in the WTO case and told U.S. officials that they consider it a

regional Caribbean issue with the United States as opposed to just a U.S. bilateral issue with

Antigua and Barbuda.7 (For more, see CRS Report RL32014, WTO Dispute Settlement: Status of

U.S. Compliance in Pending Cases, by (name redacted) and CRS Report RS22418,

Internet

Gambling: Two Approaches in the 109 Congress, by (name redacted).)

U.S. relations with Haiti were strained under the government of Jean Bertrand Aristide because of

concerns over corruption and human rights, but there has been renewed cooperation with Haiti,

first under the interim government that took office in February 2004, and more recently under the

newly elected government of President Rene Preval inaugurated in May 2006. The

Administration is hoping that an elected government will support the development of functioning

institutions and infrastructure and a reduction in violence that will help realize such as goals as

improving the human rights situation, reducing poverty, and decreasing narcotics trafficking.

Migrant interdiction has been a key component of U.S. policy toward Haiti. (For further on U.S.

policy toward Haiti, see CRS Report RL32294, Haiti: Developments and U.S. Policy Since 1991

and Current Congressional Concerns, and CRS Report RL33156, Haiti: International Assistance

Strategy for the Interim Government and Congressional Concerns, both by (name redacte

d); and CRS Report RS21349,

U.S. Immigration Policy on Haitian Migrants, by (name redac

ted).)

Since the early 1960s, U.S. policy toward Cuba has consisted largely of isolating the island nation

through economic sanctions, including a trade embargo. The Bush Administration has essentially

continued this policy, although it has further tightened economic sanctions, especially on travel.

Another component of U.S. policy consists of support measures for the Cuban people, including

private humanitarian donations, U.S.-sponsored radio and television broadcasting to Cuba, and

U.S. funding to support democracy and human rights. U.S. immigration policy toward Cuban

migrants has been described as a “wet foot/dry foot policy,” with the U.S. Coast Guard

interdicting Cuban migrants at sea and returning them to Cuba, while those Cubans who reach

shore are generally allowed to apply for permanent resident status. (For further information on

policy toward Cuba, see CRS Report RL32730, Cuba: Issues for the 109th Congress; CRS Report

RL33622, Cuba’s Future Political Scenarios and U.S. Policy Approaches; CRS Report RL31139,

Cuba: U.S. Restrictions on Travel and Remittances; all three by (name redacted); and CRS

Report RS20468, Cuban Migration Policy and Issues, by (name redacted).)

Esther Lam, “WTO Unveils Revamped Panel to Determine U.S. Compliance in Internet Gambling Case,

International Trade Reporter, Aug. 24, 2006; and Daniel Pruzin, “WTO Issues Appellate Ruling on Gambling Over

Internet,” International Trade Reporter, Apr. 14, 2005.

“CARICOM Backs Antigua in On-Line Gambling Dispute with USA,” BBC Monitoring Latin America, Oct. 15,

2006.

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The United States has provided considerable amounts of foreign assistance to the Caribbean over

the past 25 years. U.S. assistance to the region in the 1980s amounted to about $3.2 billion, with

most concentrated in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. An aid program for the Eastern

Caribbean also provided considerable assistance, especially in the aftermath of the 1983 U.S.-led

military intervention in Grenada. In the 1990s, U.S. assistance to Caribbean nations declined to

about $2 billion, or an annual average of $205 million. Haiti was the largest recipient of

assistance during this period, receiving about $1.1 billion in assistance or 54% of the total.

Jamaica was the second largest U.S. aid recipient in the 1990s, receiving about $507 million,

almost 25% of the total, while the Dominican Republic received about $352 million, about 17%

of the total. Eastern Caribbean nations received about $178 million in assistance, almost 9% of

the total. The bulk of U.S. assistance was economic assistance, including Development

Assistance, Economic Support Funds, and P.L. 480 food aid. Military assistance to the region

amounted to less than $60 million during the 1990s.

Since FY2000, U.S. aid to the Caribbean region (including FY2006 aid estimates) has amounted

to almost $1.6 billion, because of increased HIV/AIDS assistance to the region (especially to

Guyana and Haiti), disaster and reconstruction assistance in the aftermath of several hurricanes

and tropical storms in 2004, and increased support for the interim government in Haiti following

the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power. Haiti accounted for some 51% of

assistance to the Caribbean region during this period. As in the 1990s, the bulk of assistance to

the region consisted of economic assistance. With regard to hurricane disaster assistance,

Congress appropriated $100 million in October 2004 in emergency assistance for Caribbean

nations (P.L. 108-324), with $42 million for Grenada, $38 million for Haiti, $18 million for

Jamaica, and $2 million for other countries affected by the storms. Overall assistance to the

Caribbean amounted to $393 million in FY2005 and an estimated $306 million in FY2006 (see

Table 5).

For FY2007, the Administration has requested about $322 million in assistance for the Caribbean,

with about $198 million or almost 62% of the total for Haiti, $35 million for the Dominican

Republic, $31 million for Guyana, and almost $17 million for Jamaica. Assistance to the small

nations of the Eastern Caribbean (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts

and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines) is provided through USAID’s

Caribbean Regional program, which also funds some region-wide projects; for FY2007, the

Administration requested $11.6 million for the program. The Eastern Caribbean would also

receive about $1.5 million in military assistance and $3.2 million to support a Peace Corps

presence. The request of $3 million for the “Third Border Initiative” (TBI) would fund regional

projects for the 14-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) plus the Dominican Republic that

focus on improving travel and border security in the region, disaster preparedness, and greater

business competitiveness. A request of $4 million for Operation Enduring Friendship, a military

assistance program, would support efforts to increase maritime security in the Dominican

Republic, Honduras, Panama, the Bahamas, and Jamaica. (See Tables 5 and 6).

Looking ahead to future years, several Caribbean nations are potential recipients for Millennium

Challenge Account (MCA) assistance, an initiative to target foreign assistance to countries with

strong records of performance in the areas of governance, economic policy, and investment in

people. Although Haiti and Guyana have been candidate countries potentially eligible for MCA

funds since FY2004 (because of low per capita income levels), neither country has been approved

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to participate in the program because they have not met MCA performance criteria. Guyana,

however, was designated an MCA threshold country for FY2005 and FY2006 and could be

approved in future years for MCA funding. In FY2006, the per capita income level for MCAeligibility increased to $3,255 or below, and as a result, three additional Caribbean countries—the

Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Suriname—became potentially eligible for MCA funding but

ultimately were not approved for participation. For FY2007, the same five Caribbean countries—

Haiti, Guyana, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Suriname—are listed by the Millennium

Challenge Corporation (MCC) as potential candidates for MCA funding. (For additional

information see CRS Report RL32427, Millennium Challenge Account, by (name redacted).)

One obstacle in the provision of U.S. military assistance to the Caribbean has been that several

Caribbean nations that are parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) have not signed

agreements to exempt Americans from ICC prosecution, so-called “Article 98 agreements.”

Pursuant to the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act (ASPA, P.L. 107-206, title II), U.S.

military assistance is prohibited to countries that are parties to the ICC and do not have Article 98

agreements. In July 2003, the Administration announced the termination of military assistance to

six Caribbean nations: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, St. Vincent and the

Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. Subsequently, Antigua and Barbuda signed an Article 98

agreement in September 2003; Belize signed one in December 2003; and Dominica signed one in

May 2004. This leaves Barbados, St. Vincent, and Trinidad and Tobago as the three Caribbean

countries forgoing U.S. military assistance because of the ASPA sanction. Trinidad and Tobago,

which played a leading role in the establishment of the ICC, has strongly resisted signing an

agreement, as has Barbados. (For additional information see CRS Report RL33337, Article 98

Agreements and Sanctions on U.S. Foreign Aid to Latin America, by (name redacted).)

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Because of their geographic location, many Caribbean nations are transit countries for cocaine

and heroin from South America destined for the U.S. and European markets. In addition, two

Caribbean nations—Jamaica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines—are large producers and

exporters of marijuana. Of the 16 countries in the Caribbean region, President Bush in September

2006 designated four of them as major drug-producing or drug-transit countries pursuant to

annual legislative drug certification requirements: the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Haiti,

and Jamaica. The President urged the new government in Haiti to strengthen law enforcement and

the judiciary to bring drug trafficking and crime under control.8

All four designated Caribbean countries are major transit countries for illicit drugs to the U.S.

market, and Jamaica is the largest marijuana producer and exporter in the Caribbean. The

Bahamas cooperates extensively with the United States on counternarcotics measures, including

interdiction efforts through Operation Bahamas and Turks and Caicos (OPBAT), a multinational

interdiction effort, and efforts that target Bahamian drug trafficking organizations. The

Dominican Republic, a major transit country for both cocaine and heroin, cooperates closely with

the United States, although the State Department’s March 2006 International Narcotics Control

Strategy Report notes that “corruption and weak governmental institutions remained an

White House, Press Release, “Memorandum for the Secretary of State: Presidential Determination on Major Drug

Transit or Major Illicit Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2007,” Presidential Determination No. 2006-24, Sept. 15,

2006.

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impediment to controlling the flow of illegal narcotics” through the country. Jamaican

cooperation with U.S. law enforcement agencies on counternarcotics efforts is described by the

State Department report as excellent in most cases, although it maintains that the government

needs to further intensify its law enforcement efforts and enhance international cooperation. In

Haiti, anti-drug efforts have been hampered over the years by weak institutions, poor economic

conditions, and political instability. Under the interim government, the country’s continued

economic and political crises resulted in little attention to counternarcotics efforts, according to

the State Department, but a new Director General of the Haitian National Police reportedly has

worked to combat drug-related crime and police corruption.

Many other Caribbean nations, while not designated major transit countries, are still vulnerable to

drug trafficking and associated crimes because of their geographic location. In particular, the

State Department’s March 2006 report maintains that such crimes have the potential to threaten

the stability of the small states of the Eastern Caribbean, and to varying degrees, have damaged

civil society in some of these countries. Given the poor outlook for the banana industry in the

Caribbean, some observers believe that it will be difficult to contain marijuana production unless

there is adequate support to diversify these economies away from banana production. St. Vincent

and the Grenadines is the largest marijuana producer in the Eastern Caribbean.

Efforts to crack down on money laundering also constitute a major component of U.S. anti-drug

strategy, and became increasingly important as a counter-terrorist strategy in the aftermath of the

September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. The State Department’s list of major money

laundering countries (also categorized as “jurisdictions of primary concern”) includes six

Caribbean countries—Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, the Dominican Republic,

Haiti, and St. Kitts and Nevis—and one British Caribbean dependency, the Cayman Islands. The

Department of State maintains that although Antigua and Barbuda has comprehensive legislation

to regulate its financial sector, the country remains vulnerable to money laundering because the

sector is loosely regulated and because of its Internet gaming industry. The Bahamas has enacted

strong anti-money laundering laws that has made it difficult for drug traffickers to deposit large

amounts of cash; as a result, traffickers have begun storing large quantities of cash in safe houses,

purchasing real estate, vehicles, and jewelry, and processing money through legitimate businesses

and shell companies. In Belize, money laundering is believed to occur primarily in the country’s

growing offshore financial center. Money laundering in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti

stem from their roles as major drug transhipment points. In the Dominican Republic, financial

institutions engage in transactions with money derived from illegal drug sales in the United

States, with courier and wire transfers the primary methods for moving the funds. St. Kitts and

Nevis, according to the State Department, is at major risk for corruption and money laundering

because of the high volume of narcotics being trafficked through the country and because of the

presence of known traffickers on the islands.

The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), an inter-governmental body with

the objective of combating money laundering and terrorist financing, has published a list of noncooperative countries and territories in the fight against money laundering since 2000. The FATF

evaluative process has been a major factor in Caribbean countries improving their anti-money

laundering regimes. Four Caribbean nations and one dependent territory were on the first FATF

non-cooperative list issued in 2000: the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, St. Kitts and

Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Grenada was added to the list in September 2001.

Subsequent actions by all these nations to improve their anti-money laundering regimes resulted

in all of them being removed from the list by June 2003. The Bahamas and the Cayman Islands

were removed from the list in June 2001; St. Kitts and Nevis in June 2002; Dominica in October

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2002; Grenada in February 2003; and St. Vincent in June 2003. Once a nation is removed from

the list, the FATF continues to monitor developments in the country to ensure compliance.

Some Caribbean officials and others have complained that pressure to strengthen and enforce

anti-money laundering regimes in the region will have a detrimental effect on its offshore

financial sectors. They maintain that the anti-money laundering measures required have been

indiscriminate and constitute an attack on legitimate business conducted in the small financial

sectors of the region. In particular, after the U.S. congressional passage of new anti-money

laundering provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act (P.L. 107-56, Title III), approved in the aftermath

of the September 11 terrorist attacks, some feared that the stricter scrutiny of transactions between

U.S. and Caribbean financial institutions would threaten the offshore financial industry in the

Caribbean.9 The act’s anti-money laundering provisions include a prohibition on U.S.

correspondent accounts with shell banks (banks that have no physical presence in the chartering

country) and tighter bank record keeping requirements.

Some observers maintain that the strengthening of anti-money laundering regimes in the

Caribbean will have the end result of increasing the attractiveness of the region’s offshore

financial sectors for legitimate business transactions. According to this view, such efforts as the

FATF evaluative process and the newer anti-money laundering measures under the PATRIOT Act

will help change the reputation of the Caribbean as being a haven for money launderers and tax

evaders.

ȱ ȱ

The United States has offered a one way duty-free preferential trade arrangement for a wide range

of products from Caribbean Basin nations since the early 1980s as an incentive for increased

investment and export production in the region. In 1983, Congress enacted the Caribbean Basin

Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) (P.L. 98-67), the centerpiece of a broader U.S. foreign policy

initiative known as the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) linking Central America and Caribbean

nations together under one preferential trade program. The CBERA allowed duty-free importation

of many categories of products with certain exceptions. Most apparel and textile goods were

ineligible under the CBERA, but in the late 1980s imports of apparel from CBERA countries that

were assembled from U.S. components were eligible for reduced duties. These productionsharing arrangements boosted the apparel sectors of several Caribbean Basin countries, including

most significantly the Dominican Republic. In 1990, Congress enacted so-called CBI II

legislation, the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Expansion Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-382, Title

II), that enhanced the benefits of CBERA and made its provisions permanent.

Congress approved the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) (P.L. 106-200, Title II)

in 2000, which expanded preferential tariff treatment for Caribbean Basin nations, providing them

with NAFTA-like tariff treatment. This includes preferential treatment for qualifying textile and

apparel products. The CBTPA benefits are scheduled to expire in September 2008, or upon entry

into force of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, whichever comes first. Of the 15 independent

For example, see “Barbados—Weighed Down by Money Laundering Controls—Bankers and Government Officials

Are Worried that Hasty Decisions in the War Against Money Laundering Could Threaten the Financial Services

Industry in Small Jurisdictions Like Barbados,” The Banker, July 1, 2003; “U.S. Lawmaker: Antiterror Laws May Hurt

Offshore Banking,” Dow Jones International News, Jan. 5, 2003.

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Caribbean countries eligible for CBTPA benefits (Cuba is not eligible), only 8 have been

designated to participate in the program because they fully meet the eligibility criteria10 set forth

in the CBTPA. Belize, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica were designated in October

2000; Guyana was designated in November 2000; Trinidad and Tobago was designated in

February 2001; and Barbados and St. Lucia were designated in June 2001. The remaining

Caribbean countries continue to benefit from the CBERA program, with the exception of Cuba,

which is not eligible, and Suriname, a former Dutch colony which has never elected to participate

in the CBI trade program.

Since the United States first implemented a preferential trade program for Caribbean Basin

imports in 1984, the overall performance of exports has been mixed (see Table 3). The

Dominican Republic has been the Caribbean country that has benefitted most from the program,

and its apparel sector expanded significantly because of production-sharing arrangements.

Overall U.S. imports from the Caribbean (not including Central America) amounted to about $4.8

billion in 1984 and to about $14.5 billion in 2005, an increase of about $9.7 billion. The

Dominican Republic accounted for $3.6 billion of the increase. Trinidad and Tobago, an oil and

gas exporter, increased its exports destined for the United States from $1.4 billion in 1984 to

about $7.9 billion in 2005. For other Caribbean nations, however, such as Haiti and the Bahamas,

overall exports to the United States have declined or been stagnant since the early 1980s.

Bahamian exports to the United States fell when the country’s oil refinery closed in 1985; the

country’s economy remains based on tourism and financial services.

U.S. exports to the Caribbean region (including agricultural exports to Cuba, which have been

allowed since late 200111) rose from $8.9 billion in 2001 to $12.3 billion in 2005 (see Table 4).

Four Caribbean countries—Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and the

Bahamas—are the destination for the lion’s share of U.S. exports to the region. In 2005, U.S.

exports to these four countries accounted for 78% of total U.S. exports to the Caribbean. The

United States ran a trade deficit of almost $2.2 billion with the Caribbean in 2005, largely

because of and natural gas imports from Trinidad and Tobago. For all other Caribbean nations, the

United States ran a significant trade surplus.

ȱ ȱȱȱ

All Caribbean nations with the exception of Cuba are participating in the negotiations for a Free

Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), although negotiations for that agreement have been stalled

since 2004.12 Within CARICOM, while some governments, like Trinidad and Tobago, are

enthusiastic about the FTAA, other Caribbean governments, especially the smaller countries of

the region, have reservations about the FTAA and its impact on the region. While participating in

the FTAA negotiations, Caribbean nations argue for special and differential treatment for small

economies, including longer phase-in periods. CARICOM has also called for a Regional

The criteria cover a wide spectrum of issues, including WTO obligations; intellectual property rights; worker rights;

child labor; and counter-narcotics, anti-corruption, and transparency efforts.

For further background on U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba, see CRS Report RL33499, Exempting Food and

Agriculture Products from U.S. Economic Sanctions: Status and Implementation; and CRS Report RL32730, Cuba:

Issues for the 109th Congress.

For background and status of the FTAA negotiations, see CRS Report RS20864, A Free Trade Area of the Americas:

Major Policy Issues and Status of Negotiations, by (name redacted).

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Integration Fund to be established that would help the smaller economies meet their needs for

human resources, technology, and infrastructure.

In the meantime, CARICOM, which often has been criticized for acting too slowly, is trying to

prepare itself for hemispheric integration by moving ahead with its own regional integration. In

April 2005, CARICOM members established the Caribbean Court of Justice, headquartered in

Port-of-Spain in Trinidad and Tobago, that will serve as region’s final court of appeal and replace

the Privy Council based in London. The Court is expected to play an important role in the

region’s economic integration by ruling on trade disputes in the CARICOM Single Market and

Economy (CSME).

The CSME allows for the free movement of goods, services, and capital. It became operational in

January 2006, with Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad leading the way in moving ahead with its

implementation. By July 2006, 12 out of 14 CARICOM nations had joined the CSME, with the

exception of the Bahamas and Haiti. Eastern Caribbean nations were enticed to join in part by a

decision to establish a regional Development Fund and Development Agency (to be operational

by July 2007) for poorer or disadvantaged countries. Some observers have expressed skepticism

that the CSME will have a significant impact on Caribbean economies since intra-CARICOM

trade is small.13 Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur, however, asserted in early October 2006,

that the CSME has already increased his country’s regional exports as well as job and investment

opportunities for its citizens.14

On April 12, 2006, U.S. and CARICOM trade officials meeting in Washington began exploring

the possibility of a free trade agreement, although Caribbean ministers reportedly maintained that

they would only negotiate such an agreement if it included extensive transition periods for

Caribbean nations.15 The officials also agreed to revitalize a dormant Trade and Investment

Council that had originally been established in the early 1990s. The council will be the

mechanism used to continue exploratory talks on an FTA as well as other trade and investment

issues.

The Dominican Republic and the United States completed negotiations for a Free Trade

Agreement on March 15, 2004, that was ultimately integrated with a free trade agreement

negotiated with Central American countries. Ultimately, Congress approved legislation (P.L. 10953) in July 2005 implementing the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade

Agreement (DR-CAFTA). The agreement had faced political uncertainty in Congress because of

divergent U.S. views on relaxing trade rules for sensitive agricultural and textile imports and on

labor provisions. The Dominican Republic views the agreement as a means of ensuring the

continuation of U.S. preferential treatment for textiles and apparel and a means to attract U.S.

investment. The Bush Administration views the agreement as a way for the region to help create

jobs, attract foreign investment, and advance good governance. (For further information, see CRS

Report RL31870, The Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement

(CAFTA-DR), by (name redacted).)

“Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, Country Report,” Economist Intelligence Unit, September 2006, p. 26.

“PM Says Barbados Benefitting From Single Caribbean Market Already,” BBC Monitoring Latin America, Oct. 6,

2006.

“CARICOM Members Seek Special Treatment in FTA Talks with U.S.,” Inside U.S. Trade, Apr. 14, 2006.

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In the 109th Congress, two identical bills referred to as the Caribbean Basin Trade Enhancement

Act of 2005—H.R. 1213 (Hyde), introduced March 10, 2005, and S. 704 (Martinez), introduced

April 5, 2005—would authorize up to $10 million in FY2006 for the Organization of American

States (OAS) to establish a Center for Caribbean Basin Trade and up to $10 million for the OAS

to establish a skills-training program for Caribbean Basin countries.

ȱȱ ȱȱ¢ȱ ȱ

As first announced by President Bush at the April 2001 Summit of the Americas, the “Third

Border Initiative” (TBI) had the goals of deepening cooperation in fighting the spread of

HIV/AIDS, responding to natural disasters, and making sure the benefits of globalization are felt

in even the smallest economies. The Caribbean was described as an often overlooked “third

border,” where illegal drug trafficking, migrant smuggling, and financial crime threaten U.S. and

regional security interests. The initiative consisted of a package of programs to enhance

diplomatic, economic, health, education, and law enforcement cooperation and collaboration.

Most significantly, the initiative included increased funding to combat HIV/AIDS in the region.16

In the aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, the Third Border

Initiative expanded to focus on issues affecting U.S. homeland security in the fields of

administration of justice and security. Economic Support Funds (ESF) under the TBI have been

used to help Caribbean airports modernize their safety and security regulations and oversight,

which is viewed an important measure to improve the security of visiting Americans. TBI funds

have also been used to support border security such as the strengthening of immigration controls;

to help Caribbean economies move toward greater competitiveness; and to support an

improvement of environmental management.17 TBI funding amounted to $3 million in FY2003,

almost $5 million in FY2004, $8.9 million in FY2005, and an estimated $2.97 million in FY2006.

The FY2007 request for the TBI is for $3 million. (See Tables 5 and 6 on U.S. assistance to the

Caribbean at the end of this report.)

According to the State Department’s TBI budget request for FY2007, enhancing border security

will become of paramount importance in 2007 when eight Caribbean nations (Antigua and

Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and

Tobago) host the Cricket World Cup, an event drawing thousands of visitors from around the

world. In September 2006, CARICOM officials were finalizing a regional security plan for the

sporting event, which will be held in March and April 2007.

In addition to the TBI, the United States has also provided support to improve port security in the

Caribbean region, with the objective of helping ports comply with the more stringent set of

maritime regulations embodied in new International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code,

which went into effect on July 1, 2004. The ISPS is a set of maritime regulations for ships and

port facilities with the objective of preventing terrorist incidents. There has been concern among

Caribbean nations about the high cost of implementing these security regulations. Some of the

larger, richer countries in the Caribbean will be better equipped to afford these extra security

costs, while some of the smaller and poorer nations will have difficulty coming into compliance.

U.S. Department of State, International Information Programs, Washington File, “Fact Sheet: Caribbean Third

Border Initiative,” Apr. 21, 2001.

U.S. Department of State. Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations. FY2003-FY2006.

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The U.S. Coast Guard has responsibility for conducting foreign port security assessments to see

whether the ports are in compliance with the ISPS standards. Trade sanctions are an option if the

port is not in compliance. By November 2004, all Caribbean nations had self-reported that they

were in compliance with the more stringent standards of the ISPS Code. The Coast Guard is

currently involved in visiting foreign ports worldwide to ensure that security practices are up to

standards. The United States has provided some support to help Caribbean nations come into

compliance with the ISPS Code: the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) in the Department

of Transportation organizes, manages, and implements the Inter-American Port Security Training

Program (IAPSTP) for the Organization of American States; the State Department’s Bureau for

International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs funds a port security technical assistance

program for Western Hemisphere countries; and USAID has funded a project specifically for

Eastern Caribbean nations to help assess the status of each port’s security requirements and its

security plans.

Several Caribbean ports are included in the Container Security Initiative (CSI), a program

implemented by U.S. Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security.

The CSI program helps ensure that high-risk containers are identified and inspected at foreign

ports before they are placed on vessels for delivery to the United States. In September 2006, three

Caribbean ports became operational CSI ports: Caucedo, Dominican Republic; Kingston,

Jamaica; and Freeport, Bahamas. Other Latin American ports in the CSI program are the Central

American port of Puerto Cortes, Honduras, and the South American ports of Buenos Aires,

Argentina, and Santos, Brazil.

In the 108th Congress, a legislative initiative called for additional foreign assistance in order to

improve foreign port security worldwide, but no final action was completed before the end of the

session. The Senate approved the Maritime Transportation Security Act, S. 2279 (Hollings), in

September 2004, which would have provided for the Administrator of the Maritime

Administration, in coordination with the Secretary of State, to identify foreign assistance

programs that could facilitate implementation of port security antiterrorism measures in foreign

countries. The act also would have called for a report on the security of ports in the Caribbean

Basin, including an assessment of the effectiveness of the measures employed to improved

security at such ports and an assessment of the resources and program changes needed to

maximize security at Caribbean Basin ports.

In the 109th Congress, two bills would provide for foreign assistance programs for Caribbean

Basin ports. S. 744 (Nelson, Bill), introduced April 11, 2005, would establish a Caribbean Basin

Port Assistance Program. Under the legislative initiative, the Administrator of MARAD in the

Department of Transportation, in coordination with the Secretary of State, would identify foreign

assistance programs that could facilitate implementation of port security antiterrorism measures at

Caribbean Basin ports. The Administrator and the Secretary would establish a program for such

assistance in consultation with the Organization of American States. In addition, the Secretary of

Homeland Security would be required to submit a report to Congress on status of port security in

Caribbean Basin countries. S. 1052 (Stevens), the Transportation Security Improvement Act of

2005, includes a provision (Section 504) that would establish a program to facilitate

implementation of port security antiterrorism measures in foreign countries, with particular

emphasis on ports in the Caribbean Basin; this bill was introduced May 17, 2005, and reported by

the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on February 27, 2006 (S.Rept.

109-216); identical provisions are also included in S. 2791 (Stevens), introduced May 11, 2006.

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Rising crime is a major security challenge throughout the Caribbean. The murder rate in Jamaica

continues to soar, with 1,445 people killed in 2004 and more than 1,600 people in 2005. With rate

of 60 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in 2005, Jamaica had the highest murder rate in the

world.18 In late February 2006, Jamaicans were shocked over the brutal killings of six family

members, including four young children in the western part of the country. High levels of violent

crime, including murder and kidnaping, also have plagued Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti. Even

smaller Caribbean nations like St. Lucia have experienced a surge in violent crime. On April 22,

2006, Guyana’s Agriculture minister, along with his two siblings and a security guard, were shot

and killed in an apparent robbery.

Gangs involved in drug trafficking, extortion, and violence are responsible for much of the crime.

Some observers believe that criminals deported from the United States have contributed to the

region’s surge in violent crime in recent years, although some maintain that there is no established

link. Jamaica has advocated the development of an international protocol regarding the

deportation of criminals.19

ȱ¢ȱ¢ȱ

A major concern for Caribbean nations—the majority of which are net energy importers—has

been the rising price of oil and the potential effect of such rising prices on economic growth and

social stability. In the Caribbean region, only three nations—Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, and

Barbados—have significant oil and gas reserves. Of these, only Trinidad and Tobago is a major

oil and gas producer, accounting for 60% of proven oil reserves and 91% of natural gas reserves

in the region. The country is also the largest supplier of liquified natural gas (LNG) to the United

States, accounting for 75% of all U.S. LNG imports. Apart from Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba also

produces oil, but still imports a majority of its consumption needs. Barbados also produces a

small amount of oil, which is refined in Trinidad and Tobago, but it imports 90% of its oil

consumption needs.20

Venezuela is now offering oil to Caribbean nations on preferential terms in a new program known

as PetroCaribe, and there has been some U.S. concern that the program could increase

Venezuela’s influence in the Caribbean region. Since 1980, Caribbean nations have benefitted

from preferential oil imports from Venezuela (and Mexico) under the San Jose Pact, and since

2001, Venezuela has provided additional support for Caribbean oil imports under the Caracas

Energy Accord. PetroCaribe, however, would go further with the goal of putting in place a

regional supply, refining, and transportation and storage network, and establishing a development

fund for those countries participating in the program. Under the program, Venezuela announced

that it would supply 190,000 barrels per day of oil to the region, with countries paying market

prices for 50% of the oil within 90 days, and the balance paid over 25 years at an annual rate of

2%. When the price of crude oil is over $50 a barrel, as it is now, the interest is cut to 1%.21 To

“Jamaica Named Murder Capital of the World,” BBC Monitoring Americas, Jan. 2, 2006.

“Jamaica Wants Protocol to Deal with Deportation of Criminals,” BBC Monitoring Americas, Sept. 24, 2005.

“Caribbean Fact Sheet,” U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, July 2005.

“Venezuela: Caribbean Will Receive 190,000 bpd,” Latinnews Daily, Sept. 8, 2005.

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date, 14 Caribbean nations are signatories of PetroCaribe. Barbados, which already receives

discounted petroleum rates from Trinidad, has declined to sign the agreement, and Trinidad,

which has its own significant energy resources, has declined to sign. (For additional information,

see CRS Report RL33693, Latin America: Energy Supply, Political Developments, and U.S.

Policy Approaches, by (name redacted), (name redacted), and (name redacted).)

Ȧ ȱȱȱȱ

The AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean, where infection rates are among the highest outside of subSaharan Africa, has already begun to have negative consequences for economic and social

development in the region. In 2005, an estimated 300,000 adults and children in the Caribbean

were reported to be living with HIV, with the epidemic claiming 24,000 lives during the year,

making it the leading cause of death among adults aged 15-44 years. The Caribbean countries

with the highest adult prevalence or infection rates were Haiti, with a rate over 3%; the Bahamas,

Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago with rates over 2%; and Barbados, Belize, the Dominican

Republic, Jamaica, and Suriname with rates over 1%.22 In contrast to other parts of Latin

America, the mode of transmission in several Caribbean countries has been primarily through

heterosexual contact, making the disease difficult to contain, because it affects the general

population.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic account for the majority of the region’s infected population.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) notes that Haiti’s poverty, conflict, and

unstable governance have contributed to the rapid spread of AIDS; in some urban areas, HIV

infection rates are almost 10%. In both countries, however, there are indications that the epidemic

could be reaching a turning point because of prevention efforts.23

In Haiti, life expectancy is almost six years lower than it would be without the epidemic, and in

the Bahamas and Guyana, the number of deaths among 15-34 year olds is two and one half times

higher because of the epidemic.24 As the epidemic continues, already-strained health systems will

be further burdened with new cases of AIDS. As a result of the epidemic, there are some 250,000

AIDS orphans in the Caribbean, with 200,000 of those in Haiti.

Sex tourism is reportedly a factor contributing to rising HIV infection rates in some Caribbean

countries. Officials in Trinidad and Tobago have expressed concern about the growth of sex

tourism, the so-called “beach bum” phenomenon, and the link to the spread of AIDS.25 In

Jamaica, the resort town of Montego Bay has the highest HIV infection rates in the country.26 In

UNAIDS, “AIDS Epidemic Update,” December 2005, p. 53.

Ibid., pp. 54-56.

UNAIDS, Latin America and the Caribbean Fact Sheet, July 2002.

“Sex Tourism Cause of HIV Spread, Says T&T Minister,” The Weekly Gleaner (Jamaica), Feb. 19, 2003. The

commercial sex industry linked to tourism reportedly is well established in the Caribbean, with increasing male

prostitution by so-called “beach boys.” See “The Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework for HIV/AIDS,” Pan

Caribbean Partnership on HIV/AIDS and CARICOM, March 2002, p. 7. Also see Annan Boodram, “The Beach Bum

Phenomena,” Caribbean Voice, Aug. 3, 2002, and Julie Bindel, “The Price of a Holiday Fling,” Guardian (London),

July 5, 2003.

“Rising Rate of AIDS in the Caribbean,” All Things Considered, National Public Radio, July 2, 2003.

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the Dominican Republic, AIDS activists are concerned about child prostitution in resort areas and

the spread of HIV.27

According to the World Bank, continued increases in HIV prevalence in the Caribbean will

negatively affect economic growth. The epidemic, according to the Bank, will have a negative

impact on such economic sectors as agriculture, tourism, lumber production, finance, and trade

because of lost productivity of economically active adults with the disease. In particular, the labor

market in the region will be dealt a shock because of deaths from AIDS. The Prime Minister of

St. Kitts and Nevis, Denzil Douglas, maintains that the epidemic threatens to cripple the labor

force just as the region needs to become more competitive in world markets amid the momentum

toward hemispheric free trade.28 Looking ahead, the World Bank warned in 2001 that “what

happened in Africa in less than two decades could now happen in the Caribbean if action is not

taken while the epidemic is in the early stages.”29

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been the lead U.S. agency fighting

the epidemic abroad since 1986. USAID’s funding for HIV/AIDS in Central America and the

Caribbean region rose from $11.2 million in FY2000 to $33.8 million in FY2003. Because of the

inclusion of Guyana and Haiti as focus countries in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS

Relief (PEPFAR), funded largely through the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative (GHAI) account, U.S.

assistance to the Caribbean and Central America for HIV/AIDS increased to $47 million in

FY2004, $82.5 million in FY2005, and an estimated $92.7 million in FY2006. For FY2007, the

Administration requested $88 million in GHAI funding for Guyana ($25 million) and Haiti ($63

million), and another $25 million for non-focus countries and programs in Central America and

the Caribbean through the Child Survival and Health funding account.

Some Members of Congress want to expand the list of Caribbean countries beyond Guyana and

Haiti that were cited in 2003 HIV/AIDS legislation, the United States Leadership Against

HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-25). In the 108th Congress, both the

House-passed FY2004-FY2005 Foreign Relations Authorization Act, H.R. 1950 (Section 1818),

and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s reported FY2005 Foreign Relations Authorization

Act, S. 2144 (Section 2518), had provisions that would have added 14 Caribbean countries to

those listed in the 2003 legislation, but no final action was taken on these measures. In the 109th

Congress, S. 600, the Foreign Affairs Authorization Act, FY2006 and FY2007, contains a

provision (Section 2516) that would add 14 Caribbean countries to the list of focus countries

targeted for increased HIV/AIDS assistance.

Other legislative initiatives in the 109th Congress include the following: P.L. 109-95 (H.R. 1409,

Lee), approved by both houses in October 2005, and signed into law November 8, 2005, amends

the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide assistance for orphans and other vulnerable

children in developing countries, including in the Caribbean; H.R. 164 (Millender-McDonald),

introduced January 4, 2005, would amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide for the

establishment of pediatric centers in certain developing countries, including Guyana, to provide

treatment and care for children with HIV/AIDS; and S. 350 (Lugar) and H.R. 945 (Lee), both

“AIDS Activists Worried Over Child Prostitution in Dominican Republic,” Boston Haitian Reporter, Jan. 31, 2003.

“Caribbean Leaders Call AIDS ‘Single Biggest Threat’ to Development, Announce Push for Low-Cost

Antiretrovirals,” Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, July 8, 2003.

World Bank, HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean: Issues and Options, March 2001, p. xii.

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introduced in February 2005, would provide assistance to combat infectious diseases in Haiti,

including HIV/AIDS, and to establish a comprehensive health infrastructure.

For further information, see CRS Report RL32001, HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean and

Central America, by (name redacted); and CRS Report RL33485, U.S. International HIV/AIDS,

Tuberculosis, and Malaria Spending: FY2004-FY2008, by (name redacted).

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Since 2004, the Caribbean Basin region has been devastated by numerous storms and floods.

Several Caribbean nations—especially Haiti, Grenada, Jamaica, and the Bahamas—were hard hit

during the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Charley struck western Cuba in August

2004, damaging over 70,000 homes and thousands of hectares of crops. Hurricane Frances struck

the Bahamas in September 2004, causing widespread damage throughout the country’s islands. In

the same month, Hurricane Ivan caused severe damage across the Caribbean: it devastated

Grenada, damaging some 80% of the nation’s housing, and destroying or damaging much of

country’s public infrastructure; it passed over Jamaica, causing damage in the western part of the

island and in southern coastal towns; it struck the British dependency of the Cayman Islands,

damaging 50% of the homes on the island of Grand Cayman; and it affected western Cuba,

damaging houses and crops. Tropical Storm Jeanne caused devastating mudslides and floods in

northern Haiti in September 2004 that killed some 3,000 people, with over 2,800 of those in the

city of Gonaives. Another 300,000 Haitians were affected by the loss of homes, livelihoods, and

infrastructure.

The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season had an unprecedented 28 named storms, including 15

hurricanes, with six of these—Hurricanes Dennis, Emily, Stan, Wilma, Beta, and Tropical Storm

Gamma—causing widespread damage and more than 800 deaths in Central America and the

Caribbean. This surpassed the previous record of 21 named storms in 1933. In early July,

Hurricane Dennis heavily damaged central Cuba with floods, tidal surges, and landslides and also

affected Haiti’s southern peninsula with heavy rains. Later in July, Hurricane Emily passed near

Grenada, causing destruction in the northern part of the island that had been spared by Hurricane

Ivan in 2004. In early October, Hurricane Stan made landfall near Veracruz, Mexico and

generated severe floods in southern Mexico and Central America, especially in Guatemala where

more than 600 people were killed. In late October, Hurricane Wilma made landfall in Mexico’s

Yucatan peninsula, affecting more than 1 million people, while Hurricane Beta caused flooding in

Honduras and Nicaragua. Late in the season, Tropical Storm Gamma caused extensive flooding in

northern Honduras in November.30

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) initially forecast another active

season in 2006, with 13-16 named storms. Of these, 8-10 were predicted to become hurricanes

and 4-6 were predicted to be major hurricanes of Category 3 strength or higher (over 110 miles

per hour).31 (The average Atlantic hurricane season, according to NOAA, averages 11 named

storms, with 6 becoming hurricanes, and 2 of these major hurricanes.) These predictions proved

USAID, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, “Latin American and the Caribbean—Hurricane Season 2005,”

Fact Sheet #3, FY2006, Nov. 23, 2005.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “NOAA: 2006 Atlantic Hurricane Outlook,” Press Release, May

22, 2006.

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wrong, however, and this year probably will not reach the average of past years. As of late

October 2006, there were nine named storms, including five hurricanes, a relatively weak

hurricane season. Early in the season, Tropical Storm Alberto hit Cuba with heavy rains in June,

but without significant damage. In August 2006, Tropical Storm Ernesto caused flooding in Haiti

and the Dominican Republic.

ǯǯȱ ȱȱȱȱ

In response to the devastating 2004 hurricane season, the United States provided immediate

humanitarian assistance to several Caribbean nations, especially Grenada, Haiti, and Jamaica, but

also the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster

Assistance (OFDA) set up Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs) to respond to the

storms, with team members located in the various islands. By the end of October 2004, USAID

had provided almost $23 million in emergency humanitarian assistance, largely for assistance to

respond to Hurricane Ivan and Tropical Storm Jeanne. In addition, the 108th Congress

appropriated $100 million in emergency assistance (P.L. 108-324) in late October 2004 to provide

longer-term reconstruction assistance for Caribbean nations afflicted by the storms.

The reconstruction assistance was targeted as follows: $42 million for Grenada, $38 million for

Haiti, $18 million for Jamaica, and $2 million for other countries affected by the storms. In

Grenada, USAID’s assistance program had two phases. The first was a short-term program to

restore and revitalize rural communities, repair schools and health centers, and reestablish the

productive capacity of small and medium-size businesses. The second, longer-term phase focused

on rebuilding infrastructure, revitalizing the business sector, and restoring the government’s

economic management capacity.

In Haiti, the reconstruction program had two major components. A community revitalization

component involved road repair, disaster mitigation, water system rehabilitation, drainage and

clean up, public building rehabilitation, and household repairs. A rural revitalization component

involved hillside stabilization, irrigation, and an early warning system for flooding on the La

Quinte River, which flows past Gonaives, the city that was devastated by Tropical Storm Jeanne.

The Jamaica assistance program also had two phases. The first was an immediate recovery

program to help repair community infrastructure and help revitalize the agricultural sector. The

second phase involved the repair and rebuilding of homes, assistance for business recovery, and

the rehabilitation and re-supply of schools. Other smaller hurricane assistance programs targeted

affected communities in the Bahamas and Tobago, and also provided assistance to Eastern

Caribbean nations to design and implement risk reduction efforts for low-income housing.32

In May 2006, GAO issued a report reviewing USAID’s $100 million disaster assistance program

for the Caribbean.33 GAO concluded that USAID had completed many of the activities within a

planned one-year timeframe, expending 77% of the assistance by December 2005, but that

several factors had hampered the agency’s ability to complete all the projects within the

timeframe. These factors included severe weather that delayed some projects in Jamaica and

USAID, USAID/Jamaica-Caribbean Regional Program. “Hurricane Recovery & Rehabilitation Program for Grenada,

Jamaica, and the Caribbean Region,” Eleventh Report, November 2005.

U.S. GAO, “Foreign Assistance: USAID Completed Many Caribbean Disaster Recovery Activities, but Several

Challenges Hampered Efforts,” GAO-06-645, May 2006.

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Haiti, coordination challenges that negatively affected USAID’s completion of construction

projects in Grenada and Jamaica, difficulty identifying housing recipients in all three countries,

and security challenges in Haiti.

For the 2005 hurricane season, USAID provided about $12.5 million in disaster assistance to

Central American and Caribbean nations as well as Mexico, about $6.4 million of which was

provided by OFDA. Guatemala, which was hard hit by Hurricane Stan, received the bulk of the

assistance, $9.2 million, with $4 million of that in emergency food assistance. Other countries

that received lesser amounts of assistance, ranging from $1.2 million to $50,000 in descending

order, were El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, Cuba, Grenada, the Bahamas, Haiti, and

Costa Rica.34

Many of the hurricane recovery and reconstruction projects implemented by USAID in Central

America and the Caribbean have included components to strengthen disaster mitigation efforts.

For the Hurricane Ivan and Tropical Storm Jeanne recovery programs in the Caribbean, disaster

mitigation efforts were an integral part of the reconstruction process. Better building standards

were incorporated into the programs. In Haiti, civil protection committees were established and

risk management plans were implemented as well as hillside stabilization efforts and early

warning systems for floods. Grenadian officials maintain that, while reconstruction is still not

complete, the country is better prepared than in past years for withstanding hurricanes.35

OFDA also provides support for disaster preparedness and mitigation programs in Latin America

and the Caribbean to reduce the loss of life and lessen the economic impact caused by disasters.

In the Caribbean, OFDA has provided support to the Caribbean Development Bank since 2000 to

establish a disaster mitigation facility that supports activities to reduce risk and losses from

disasters in the English-speaking Caribbean. OFDA has also supported efforts of the U.N.

Development Program (UNDP) in Haiti to reduce natural hazards faced by vulnerable

populations.

According to Adolfo Franco, USAID’s Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the

Caribbean, OFDA has collaborated with NOAA to improve disaster mitigation efforts in the

region. The agencies work with countries in the region to provide state-of-the-art hurricane

warnings and updates and to improve the capacity of forecasters in the region to provide early

warnings. In the aftermath of the 2004 hurricane season, NOAA also deployed new hurricane

buoys to enhance monitoring and forecast storm tracking in the Caribbean. NOAA’s National

Weather Service (NWS) also issues various forecasts for the Caribbean Basin region, and most

weather agencies in the region are in communication with the NWS. Nine Caribbean Basin

nations also participate in a cooperative forecasting operations agreement with NOAA’s

International Activities Office.

USAID, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, “Latin American and the Caribbean—Hurricane Season 2005,”

Fact Sheet #3, FY2006, Nov. 23, 2005.

“Grenada Better Prepared for Hurricanes this Year—Minister,” BBC Monitoring Americas, June 13, 2006.

ȱȱȱ

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ȱ ȱȱȱŗŖşȱȱ

Ȭȱ ȱȱ

H.Con.Res. 71 (Lee), introduced February 17, 2005, passed by the House on June 27, 2005, and

by the Senate on February 14, 2006, expresses the sense of Congress that there should be

established a Caribbean-American Heritage Month (Subsequently, on June 5, 2006, President

Bush proclaimed June as Caribbean-American heritage month.)

Ȭȱȱ

H.Con.Res. 175 (Rangel), introduced June 8, 2005, and passed by the House (382-6, 2 present),

and S.Con.Res. 90 (Dodd), introduced May 1, 2006, acknowledge African descendants of the

transatlantic slave trade in all of the Americas with an emphasis on descendants in Latin America

and the Caribbean, recognize the injustices suffered by these African descendants and recommend

that the United States and the international community work to improve the situation of Afrodescendant communities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

ȱ ȱȱȱȱȱ

H.R. 953 (Menendez), introduced February 17, 2005, and S. 682 (Dodd), introduced March 17,

2005, would authorize the establishment of a Social Investment and Economic Development

Fund for the Americas to proved assistance to reduce poverty and foster increased economic

opportunity in Western Hemisphere countries, including in the Caribbean.

H.R. 1130 (Waters), introduced March 3, 2005, would provide for the cancellation of debts owed

to international financial institutions by eligible poor countries, including the Caribbean nations

of Guyana, Haiti, and Jamaica.

H.R. 5784 (Lee), introduced July 13, 2006, would authorize assistance for a United StatesCaribbean educational exchange program and for a USAID program to extend and expand

existing primary and secondary school initiatives in the Caribbean.

ȱȱ

P.L. 109-295 (H.R. 5441), FY2007 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations, signed

into law October 4, 2006; Section 546 of the bill amends the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism

Prevention Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-458) by extending the deadline requiring U.S. citizens traveling

by land or sea between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the

Caribbean, and Bermuda to have passports or other documents denoting identity and citizenship.

The deadline was extended from January 1, 2008 to June 1, 2009, or earlier if the Secretary of

State and Secretary of Homeland Security jointly certify certain criteria regarding the new

document or passport card being developed. (Note: A deadline of January 8, 2007, remains in

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place for U.S. citizens to have passports for travel by air between the United States and Canada,

Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda.)

P.L. 109-53 (H.R. 3045), the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade

Agreement Implementation Act; both houses approved in July 2005, and the measure was signed

into law August 2, 2005. Two identical bills referred to as the Caribbean Basin Trade

Enhancement Act of 2005—H.R. 1213 (Hyde), introduced March 10, 2005, and S. 704

(Martinez), introduced April 5, 2005—would authorize up to $10 million in FY2006 for the

Organization of American States (OAS) to establish a Center for Caribbean Basin Trade and up to

$10 million for the OAS to establish a skills-training program for Caribbean Basin countries.

H.R. 3176 (Menendez), introduced June 30, 2005, would amend the Caribbean Basin Economic

Recovery Act to provide for preferential treatment for certain apparel articles that are both cut (or

knit to shape) and sewn or otherwise assembled in a beneficiary country under the act from

fabrics or yarn not widely available in commercial quantities.

ȱ¢ȱ

S. 1052 (Stevens), the Transportation Security Improvement Act of 2005, introduced May 17,

2005, reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on February

27, 2006, includes a provision (Section 504) that would establish a program to facilitate

implementation of port security antiterrorism measures in foreign countries, with particular

emphasis on ports in the Caribbean Basin; identical provisions are included in S. 2791 (Stevens),

introduced May 11, 2006. S. 744 (Nelson, Bill), introduced April 11, 2005, would establish a

Caribbean Basin Port Assistance Program.

Ȧ ȱ

P.L. 109-95 (H.R. 1409, Lee), introduced March 17, 2005, approved by both houses in October

2005, and signed into law November 8, 2005, amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to

provide assistance for orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries, including in

the Caribbean. H.R. 164 (Millender-McDonald), introduced January 4, 2005, would amend the

Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide for the establishment of pediatric centers in certain

developing countries, including Guyana, to provide treatment and care for children with

HIV/AIDS. H.R. 945 (Lee), introduced February 17, 2005, would provide assistance to combat

infectious diseases in Haiti, including HIV/AIDS, and to establish a comprehensive health

infrastructure. S. 600 (Lugar), introduced March 10, 2005, the Foreign Affairs Authorization Act,

FY2006 and FY2007, contains a provision (Section 2516) that would add 14 Caribbean countries

to the list of focus countries targeted for increased HIV/AIDS assistance. The list already includes

Guyana and Haiti.

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P.L. 109-13 (H.R. 1268), Emergency Supplemental for FY2005, signed into law May 11, 2005,

provided $10.2 million for buoys for the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Gulf of Mexico, and

Caribbean Sea for observing ocean conditions at depth. Several legislative initiatives have been

introduced in the 109th Congress regarding support for a U.S. tsunami detection and warning

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system, including in the Caribbean region. These include S. 50 (Inouye), passed by the Senate

July 11, 2005; H.R. 1674 (Boehlert), reported by the House Committee on Science September 28,

2006; and S. 1753 (DeMint), introduced September 22, 2005, and reported by the Committee on

Commerce, Science, and Transportation December 8, 2005 (S.Rept. 109-204). For analysis of

these initiatives, and information on additional legislative initiatives, see CRS Report RL32739,

Tsunamis: Monitoring, Detection, and Early Warning Systems, by (name redacted).

ȱȱ

H.Con.Res. 441 (DeFazio), introduced June 29, 2006, would express the sense of Congress

regarding the “regrettable” votes cast by certain Caribbean countries (Antigua and Barbuda,

Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines) for a

resumption of commercial whaling at the 58th annual International Whaling Commission meeting

in St. Kitts in June 2006.

Numerous legislative initiatives have been introduced in the 109th Congress regarding Cuba’s

human rights situation, U.S. economic sanctions (including the overall embargo, travel

restrictions, and restrictions on financing for U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba), and radio and

television broadcasting. For a listing of legislative initiatives and action, see CRS Report

RL32730, Cuba: Issues for the 109th Congress, by (name redacted).

¢ȱ

H.Res. 792 (Meeks), approved by the House by voice vote on June 12, 2006, recognizes the 40th

anniversary of Guyana’s independence and extends best wishes to Guyana for peace and further

development, progress, and prosperity. H.Con.Res. 74 (Meeks), introduced February 17, 2005,

would express the sense of Congress with respect to the urgency of providing adequate assistance

to Guyana, devastated by severe flooding. Also see H.R. 164 in the “HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean”

section above; and H.R. 1130 in the “General” section above.

Numerous legislative initiatives have been introduced in the 109th Congress regarding Haiti,

including on migration, reconstruction assistance, health assistance, and on the establishment of

an independent commission examining the U.S. role in the 2004 “coup” in Haiti. For a listing of

legislative initiatives and action, see CRS Report RL32294, Haiti: Developments and U.S. Policy

Since 1991 and Current Congressional Concerns, by (name redacted) and (name redacted

H.Res. 727 (Waters), introduced March 14, 2006, would congratulate Portia Simpson Miller for

becoming the first female Prime Minister-designate of Jamaica. H.Con.Res. 362 (Jackson-Lee),

introduced March 16, 2006, would congratulate Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller for

becoming the first democratically elected female Prime Minister of Jamaica.

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Two bills—H.R. 342 (Owens), introduced January 25, 2005, and S. 297 (Schumer), introduced

February 7, 2005, would provide for adjustment of immigration status for certain aliens granted

temporary protected status in the United States because of conditions in Montserrat.

ȱȱȱ

CRS Report RL33337, Article 98 Agreements and Sanctions on U.S. Foreign Aid to Latin

America, by (name redacted).

CRS Report RL32322, Central America and the Dominican Republic in the Context of the Free

Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) with the United States, by (name redacted) et al.

CRS Report RL32730, Cuba: Issues for the 109th Congress, by (name redacted).

CRS Report RS21718, Dominican Republic: Political and Economic Conditions and Relations

with the United States, by (name redacted) and (name redacted).

CRS Report RL31870, The Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade

Agreement (CAFTA-DR), by (name redacted).

CRS Report RS21930, Ethanol Imports and the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), by (name red

acted).

CRS Report RS20864, A Free Trade Area of the Americas: Major Policy Issues and Status of

Negotiations, by (name redacted).

CRS Report RL32294, Haiti: Developments and U.S. Policy Since 1991 and Current

Congressional Concerns, by (name redacted) and (name redacted).

CRS Report RL32001, HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean and Central America, by (name redacted).

CRS Report RS22372, Jamaica: Political and Economic Conditions and U.S. Relations, by (name

redacted).

CRS Report 98-684, Latin America and the Caribbean: Fact Sheet on Leaders and Elections, by

(name redacted) and (name redacted).

CRS Report RL33693, Latin America: Energy Supply, Political Developments, and U.S. Policy

Approaches, by (name redacted), (name redacted), and (name redacted).

CRS Report RL32733, Latin America and the Caribbean: Issues for the 109th Congress,

coordinated by (name redacted).

CRS Report RL33162, Trade Integration in the Americas, by (name redacted).

CRS Report RL33200, Trafficking in Persons in Latin America and the Caribbean, by (name

redacted).

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CRS Report RL32739, Tsunamis: Monitoring, Detection, and Early Warning Systems, by (name

redacted).

CRS Report RL32487, U.S. Foreign Assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean, by (name r

edacted), (name redacted), and (name redacted).

Table 1. Caribbean Countries: Basic Facts

Country

Area

(sq. miles)

Population

(2004, thousands)

170

5,382

166

8,867

44,200

290

18,704

133

82,980

10,714

4,244

101

238

130

63,037

1,980

320

272

283

11,365

8,900

106

772

8,600

2,700

164

108

443

1,323

Antigua and Barbuda

Bahamas

Barbados

Belize

Cuba

Dominica

Dominican Republic

Grenada

Guyana

Haiti

Jamaica

St. Kitts and Nevis

St. Lucia

St. Vincent

Suriname

Trinidad and Tobago

Adult Literacy

Rate (%ages 15

and above,

2003 est.)

Per Capita

Income (U.S. $,

2004 est.)

10,000

14,920

9,270

3,940

85.8

95.5

99.7

76.9

96.9

88.0

87.7

96.0

96.5

51.9

87.6

97.8

90.1

88.1

88.0

98.5

3,650

2,080

3,760

990

390

2,900

`7,600

4,310

3,650

2,250

8,580

Area statistics are drawn from the U.S. Department of State Background Notes for each country;

population and per capita income statistics are from the World Bank’s World Development Report 2006; adult

literacy rates are from the United Nations’ Human Development Report 2005.

a. Estimated by the World Bank to be between $826-$3,255.

Sources:

Table 2. Caribbean Leaders and Elections

Country

Antigua & Barbuda

Bahamas

Barbados

Belize

Cuba

Dominica

Dominican Republic

ȱȱȱ

Head of Government

SPENCER, Baldwin

CHRISTIE, Perry

ARTHUR, Owen

MUSA, Said

CASTRO, Fidel

SKERRITT, Roosevelt

FERNANDEZ, Leonel

Last Election

Next Election

Mar. 23, 2004

May 2002

May 21, 2003

Mar. 5, 2003

by Mar. 2009

by May 2007

by May 2008

by Mar. 2008

May 5, 2005

May 16, 2004

by May 2010

May 2008

ŘŚȱ

ȱǱȱ ȱȱǯǯȱȱ

Country

Head of Government

Last Election

Next Election

Grenada

MITCHELL, Keith

Nov. 27, 2003

by Nov. 2008

Guyana

BHARRAT, Jagdeo

Aug. 28, 2006

by Dec. 2011

Haiti

PRÉVAL, Réne

Feb. 7, 2006

2011

Oct. 2002

by Oct. 2007

Jamaica

SIMPSON MILLER, Portiab

St. Kitts & Nevis

DOUGLAS, Denzil

Oct. 25, 2004

by Oct. 2009

St. Lucia

ANTHONY, Kenny

Dec. 2001

by Dec. 2006

St. Vincent & the Grenadines

GONSALVES, Ralph

Dec. 7, 2005

by Mar. 2010

Suriname

VENETIAAN, Ronald

May 25, 2005

May 2010

Trinidad & Tobago

MANNING, Patrick

Oct. 7, 2002

by Oct. 2007

a. Castro has served as head of government since the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Since that time, there have

been no elections for head of government.

b. Portia Simpson Miller was sworn in as Prime Minister in March 30, 2006, after replacing out-going Prime

Minster P.J. Patterson as leader of the ruling People’s National Party.

. U.S. Imports from Caribbean Countries

Table 3

(U.S. $ millions)

Country

1984

2002

2003

2004

2005

Antigua and Barbuda

Bahamas

Barbados

Belize

Dominica

Dom. Republic

Grenada

Guyana

Haiti

Jamaica

St. Kitts and Nevis

St. Lucia

St. Vincent

Surinamea

7.898

1,154.282

252.598

42.843

.086

994.427

.766

74.417

377.413

396.949

23.135

7.397

2.958

3.527

449.697

34.438

77.668

4.670

4,168.881

6.886

115.615

255.007

396.317

48.627

19.180

16.475

12.767

479.305

43.428

101.443

5.252

4,455.230

7.602

118.690

332.340

422.749

44.588

12.999

4.142

4.366

637.687

36.882

107.020

2.883

4,527.100

5.101

122.398

370.681

319.737

41.709

14.281

4.125

4.414

699.936

31.904

98.265

3.344

4,603.684

5.853

119.931

447.217

375.572

49.719

32.397

15.650

104.636

132.722

140.064

140.820

165.346

Trinidad and Tobago

1,360.106

2,440.304

4,333.753

5,842.170

7,890.884

Total

4,799.911

8,170.014

10,514.352

12,176.96

14,544.116

1984 statistics are from U.S. International Trade Commission, The Impact of the Caribbean Basin

Economic Recovery Act, Fifteenth Report, 1999-2000, September 2001; 2000-2005 trade statistics are from the

Department of Commerce, as presented by World Trade Atlas.

a. Suriname has not been a beneficiary of the Caribbean Basin Initiative preferential trade program.

Source:

ȱȱȱ

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Table 4. U.S. Exports to Caribbean Countries

(U.S. $ millions)

Country

Antigua and Barbuda

Bahamas

Barbados

Belize

Cuba

Dominica

Dominican Republic

Grenada

Guyana

Haiti

Jamaica

St. Kitts and Nevis

St. Lucia

St. Vincent

Suriname

Trinidad and Tobago

Total

Source:

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

95.526

1,026.342

286.613

173.167

7.096

30.690

3,757.045

59.873

141.252

550.383

1,405.522

46.338

86.743

38.836

155.306

1,087.143

8,947.875

81.359

975.309

267.646

137.667

145.649

44.972

4,250.068

56.406

128.208

573.185

1,420.187

49.461

99.499

40.449

124.757

1,020.211

9,415.033

127.314

1,074.694

300.095

198.808

259.127

34.332

4,205.449

68.420

117.148

639.441

1,469.545

58.768

119.544

46.216

192.655

1,063.297

9,974.853

125.745

1,185.751

348.432

151.832

404.141

35.989

4,358.279

70.103

138.411

672.978

1,430.780

60.322

105.297

45.462

179.189

1,207.578

10,520.289

190.447

1,786.740

394.920

217.563

369.035

61.540

4,718.733

82.440

176.705

709.621

1,700.769

94.069

135.389

45.411

245.701

1,416.748

12,345.831

Trade statistics are from the Department of Commerce, as presented by World Trade Atlas.

Table 5. U.S. Foreign Assistance to the Caribbean, FY2003-FY2007

(U.S. $ millions)

Country

Bahamas

Belize

Cuba

Dominican Republic

Guyana

Haiti

Jamaica

Suriname

Trinidad and Tobago

Caribbean Regional

Eastern Caribbeana

Third Border

ȱȱȱ

FY2003

FY2004

FY2005

FY2006

(estimate)

FY2007

(request)

1.336

2.046

6.000

28.099

8.407

71.887

22.337

1.397

0.540

13.008

4.255

3.000

1.264

2.082

21.369

33.968

11.590

132.324

24.186

1.471

10.310

6.900

4.976

1.294

2.799

8.928

28.652

20.255

182.717

22.459

1.486

0.049

110.909

4.958

8.928

2.512

2.251

10.890

27.108

23.965

194.384

19.472

1.627

1.028

11.326

4.813

2.970

0.805

2.289

9.000

35.007

31.009

198.039

16.617

3.000

2.894

11.640

4.774

3.000

ŘŜȱ

ȱǱȱ ȱȱǯǯȱȱ

Country

OAS Special Mission in Haiti

Operation Enduring Friendship

Total

FY2003

FY2004

FY2005

FY2006

(estimate)

FY2007

(request)

—

162.312

4.971

—

255.411

—

393.434

—

3.960

306.306

—

4.000

322.074

U.S. Department of State, FY2004-FY2007 Congressional Budget Justifications for Foreign Operations.

The Eastern Caribbean category funds military assistance and Peace Corp programs for seven countries.

Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the

Grenadines. Development assistance for these nations is funded under U.S. AID’s Caribbean Regional

program.

Source:

Table 6. U.S. Foreign Assistance to the Caribbean FY2006 Estimates and

FY2007 Requests

($ in millions)

Country

Bahamas

FY2006

—

FY2007 Req.

—

Belize

FY2006

—

FY2007 Req.

—

Cuba

FY2006

1.98

FY2007 Req.

—

Dominican Republic

FY2006

7.07

FY2007 Req.

6.01

Guyana

FY2006

3.96

FY2007 Req.

4.00

Haiti

FY2006

29.70

FY2007 Req.

23.14

Jamaica

FY2006

9.58

FY2007 Req.

7.39

Suriname

FY2006

—

FY2007 Req.

—

CSH

GHAI

ESF

PL 480

IMET

INL

FMF

Other

Total

—

.39

.23

.50

.10

.08

1.53

—

2.52

0.81

—

.20

.25

—

.20

.18

1.86

1.87

2.26

2.30

—

8.91

9.00

—

10.89

9.00

12.72

11.34

—

1.98

12.00

—

1.29

1.09

—

.94

.73

3.12

3.85

27.12

35.02

—

18.00

25.00

—

.30

.32

—

.10

.08

1.61

23.97

31.01

19.80

15.81

47.30

63.00

49.50

50.00

31.48

34.50

.21

.25

14.85

10.00

.99

.78

.55

.56

194.38

198.04

4.47

2.81

—

.89

.75

.99

.90

.59

.50

2.95

4.27

19.47

16.62

—

.15

—

.10

.08

1.38

1.47

1.63

1.70

ȱȱȱ

Řŝȱ

ȱǱȱ ȱȱǯǯȱȱ

Country

CSH

GHAI

ESF

PL 480

IMET

—

.05

FY2007 Req.

—

Third Border Initiative

FY2006

—

FY2007 Req.

—

Operation Enduring Friendship

FY2006

—

FY2007 Req.

—

Caribbean Region

FY2006

4.89

6.44

FY2007 Req.

6.00

5.64

Eastern Caribbean

FY2006

—

FY2007 Req.

—

Total - FY2006

57.18 43.43

Total - FY2007

46.54 35.60

—

2.97

3.00

—

INL

FMF

Other

—

.98

.05

—

2.85

1.03

2.90

—

2.97

3.00

—

3.96

4.00

—

3.96

4.00

—

11.33

11.64

—

65.30

88.00

—

63.36

74.00

—

31.48

34.50

.76

.77

4.24

3.86

—

16.34

11.40

.89

.78

8.76

7.21

3.16

3.23

17.14

19.71

4.81

4.78

307.23

320.82

Total

Trinidad & Tobago

FY2006a

—

Figures are drawn from U.S. Department of State Congressional Budget Justification, Summary Tables,

Fiscal Year 2007. Table prepared by name redacted, CRS, February 28, 2006. Operation Enduring Friendship

includes activities in Panama.

Source:

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ŘŞȱ

ȱǱȱ ȱȱǯǯȱȱ

Figure 1. Caribbean Region

Source:

ȬŘşȱ

Map Resources. Adapted by CRS. (K. Yancey 9/7/04)

ȱǱȱ ȱȱǯǯȱȱ

ȱȱ ȱ

(name redacted)

Specialist in Latin American Affairs

#redacted#@crs.loc.gov, 7-....

ȱȱȱ

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