Rubio arrives in Saint Kitts and Nevis for meeting with Caribbean heads of state

Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald on Feb 25, 2026

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As U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepares to meet with Caribbean Community leaders Wednesday during his second official visit to the region, leaders are hoping for a reset in relations with Washington.

Rubio is expected to address the full 15-member bloc and its associate members. His much-anticipated visit comes amid mounting U.S. pressure on eastern Caribbean nations to reform their Citizenship by Investment program — which allows foreign nationals to get passports for as little as $100,000 investments — military strikes on boats in the southern Caribbean and intensifying scrutiny over the region’s ties to Cuba and Venezuela.

The Trump administration, which has prioritized mass deportations, also wants countries to open their doors to rejected asylum seekers in the U.S. Caribbean governments have long maintained close ties with Cuba, which has invested heavily in the region through healthcare agreements and scholarships for Caribbean nationals. But with the U.S. blocking shipments of oil to the island, leaders say they fear a spillover effect from Cuba’s humanitarian crisis into the wider Caribbean.

Denzil Douglas, the current foreign minister of St. Kitts who served 20 years as prime minister, said he was looking forward to the encounter. “We expect emphasis on continued cooperation between CARICOM countries, leaders and people, and the United States of America, government and people,” he said. “ Of course, we are basically neighbors. As a result of that, what transpires in one country naturally affects us as neighbors. We want to make sure that the critical issues, particularly our views of Haiti, particularly views on other countries in the Caribbean, where there seems to be, at the moment, some uncertainty. We want to have clarity on those issues.” That includes Cuba, he said. “CARICOM wants to ensure that the humanitarian crisis, which may be escalating in Cuba, that it is seriously looked at and adjusted. We have our people who have studied there, who continue to be there,” Douglas added. “We believe in the Cuban people their rights to enjoy quality of life like other people, and we will do our best to emphasize those matters.”

Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, said he hopes the organization’s meeting with Rubio will be a “reset” of the group’s relations with the U.S.

“We hope that this will be a reset, one in which there will be strong relations, one in which the United States will understand the vulnerabilities of Caribbean countries, the needs of Caribbean countries, and one in which they will work with us to adjust those vulnerabilities while at the same time strengthening our common security interests and ensuring that this hemisphere remains a zone of peace,“ Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, said as he prepared to attend the first session of the day. “I know some people don’t like to hear it, but that is what keeps us united, and that is what helps to fuel growth and development within the Caribbean region,” he said. Browne’s nation is one of two, along with Dominica, recently placed on a partial visa ban by the Trump administration. Haitian nationals who do not have U.S. visas or whose travel documents expire are under a full ban. .