Editing Foreign relations of Cuba (section)

== International organizations and groups ==

[[Association of Caribbean States|ACS]] • [[Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas|ALBA]] • [[Alliance of Small Island States|AOSIS]] • [[Community of Latin American and Caribbean States|CELAC]] • [[Caribbean Tourism Organization|CTO]] • [[United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean|ECLAC]] • [[G33 (developing countries)|G33]] • [[Group of 77|G77]] • [[International Atomic Energy Agency|IAEA]] • [[International Civil Aviation Organization|ICAO]] • [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|ICRM]] • [[International Fund for Agricultural Development|IFAD]] • [[International Labour Organization|ILO]] • [[International Maritime Organization|IMO]] • [[Interpol (organization)|Interpol]] • [[IOC]] • [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] • [[International Telecommunication Union|ITU]] • [[Latin American Economic System|LAES]] • [[Non-Aligned Movement|NAM]] • [[Organization of American States|OAS]] • [[Organization of Ibero-American States|OEI]] • [[OPANAL]] • [[Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons|OPCW]] • [[Pan American Health Organization|PAHO]] • [[Rio Group]] • [[United Nations|UN]] • [[United Nations Conference on Trade and Development|UNCTAD]] • [[UNESCO]] • [[Universal Postal Union|UPU]] • [[World Customs Organization|WCO]] • [[WHO]] • [[World Intellectual Property Organization|WIPO]] • [[World Meteorological Organization|WMO]]

=== Caribbean Community (CARICOM) ===

Ties between the nations of the [[Caribbean Community]] (CARICOM) and Cuba have remained cordial over the course of the later half of the 20th century.<ref>[http://www.nationnews.com/story/284896411769321.php Arthur points out ties that bind] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222071701/http://www.nationnews.com/story/284896411769321.php |date=2012-02-22 }} ''The Nation'' newspaper</ref> Formal diplomatic relations between the CARICOM economic giants: [[Barbados]], [[Jamaica]], [[Guyana]] and [[Trinidad and Tobago]] have existed since 1972,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/NewViewNewsleft.cfm?Record=23679 |title=Advocate |publisher=Barbadosadvocate.com |access-date=2012-03-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215152242/http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/NewViewNewsleft.cfm?Record=23679 |archive-date=2012-02-15 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20051207t210000-0500_94154_obs_all_set_for_cuba_caricom_summit.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228073721/http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20051207t210000-0500_94154_obs_all_set_for_cuba_caricom_summit.asp|url-status=dead|title=All set for Cuba/Caricom Summit – JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM|archive-date=February 28, 2008}}</ref> and have over time led to an increase in cooperation between the [[CARICOM Heads of Government]] and Cuba. At a summit meeting of sixteen Caribbean countries in 1998, Fidel Castro called for regional unity, saying that only strengthened cooperation between Caribbean countries would prevent their domination by rich nations in a global economy.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/156312.stm | title = Castro calls for Caribbean unity | publisher = BBC New | access-date = 2006-05-21 | date=1998-08-21 | location=London}}</ref> Cuba, for many years regionally isolated, increased grants and scholarships to the Caribbean countries.

To celebrate ties between the Caribbean Community and Cuba in 2002 the Heads of Government of Cuba and CARICOM have designated the day of December 8 to be called 'CARICOM-Cuba Day'.<ref>[http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2004/12/07/sanders.htm Caribbean Net News: CARICOM-Cuba Day: 8 December – A time for Celebration] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226133925/http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2004/12/07/sanders.htm |date=February 26, 2008 }}</ref> The day is the exact date of the formal opening of diplomatic relations between the first CARICOM-four and Cuba.

In December 2005, during the second CARICOM/CUBA summit held in Barbados, heads of CARICOM and Cuba agreed to deepen their ties in the areas of socio-economic and political cooperation in addition to medical care assistance. Since the meeting, Cuba has opened four additional embassies in the Caribbean Community including: [[Antigua and Barbuda]], [[Dominica]], [[Suriname]], and [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]]. This development makes Cuba the only nation to have embassies in all independent countries of the Caribbean Community.<ref>[http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000008/000823.htm Caribbean Net News: Cuba opens more Caribbean embassies] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415220746/http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000008/000823.htm |date=April 15, 2009 }}</ref> CARICOM and Canadian politicians<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.caricom.org/jsp/pressreleases/pres21_98.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080302020536/http://www.caricom.org/jsp/pressreleases/pres21_98.htm|url-status=dead|title=New focus on CARICOM/Canada relations|archive-date=March 2, 2008}}</ref> have jointly maintained that through the International inclusion of Cuba, a more positive change might indeed be brought about there (politically) as has been witnessed in the [[People's Republic of China]].

Cuban cooperation with the Caribbean was extended by a joint health programme between Cuba and Venezuela named [[Operación Milagro]], set up in 2004. The initiative is part of the Sandino commitment, which sees both countries coming together with the aim of offering free ophthalmology operations to an estimated 4.5 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean over a ten-year period.<ref>[http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=2305142005 Havana's Operation Miracle helps eye patients see light] News. Scotsman</ref> According to [[Denzil Douglas]], the prime minister of [[St. Kitts and Nevis]], more than 1,300 students from member nations are studying in Cuba while more than 1,000 Cuban doctors, nurses and other technicians are working throughout the region. In 1998 Trinidadian and Tobagonian Prime Minister [[Patrick Manning]] had a heart valve replacement surgery in Cuba and returned in 2004 to have a pacemaker implanted.

In December 2008 the CARICOM Heads of Government opened the third Cuba-CARICOM Summit in Cuba. The summit is to look at closer integration of the Caribbean Community and Cuba.<ref>[http://www.cananews.net/news/131/ARTICLE/32294/2008-12-08.html TIES THAT BIND: CUBA/CARICOM leaders talk closer cooperation]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} – Caribbean News Agency (CANA) – Monday, 08 December 2008</ref> During the summit the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) bestowed Fidel Castro with the highest honour of CARICOM, [[Order of the Caribbean Community|The Honorary Order of the Caribbean Community]] which is presented in exceptional circumstances to those who have offered their services in an outstanding way and have made significant contributions to the region.<ref>[http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/diciembre/mar9/50orden-i.html]{{dead link|date=March 2012}}</ref><ref>[http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161410291 Caricom's highest honour for Fidel]{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} – Trinidad and Tobago Express Newspaper – December 7, 2008</ref>

In 2017 Cuba and the [[Caribbean Community]] (CARICOM) bloc signed the "CARICOM-Cuba Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://caricom.org/Document-Library/view-document/caricom-cuba-trade-and-economic-cooperation-agreement|title=CARICOM-Cuba Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

=== Organization of American States ===
{{Main|Cuban relations with the Organization of American States}}

Cuba was formerly excluded from participation in the [[Organization of American States]] under a decision adopted by the Eighth Meeting of Consultation in [[Punta del Este]], [[Uruguay]], on 21 January 1962. The resolution stated that as Cuba had officially identified itself as a Marxist–Leninist government, it was incompatible with "the principles and objectives of the inter-American system."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Cuba79eng/intro.htm |title=Cuba 1979 – Introduction |publisher=Cidh.oas.org |access-date=2012-03-23}}</ref> This stance was frequently questioned by some member states. This situation came to an end on 3 June 2009, when foreign ministers assembled in [[San Pedro Sula]], [[Honduras]], for the OAS's 39th [[General Assembly of the Organization of American States|General Assembly]], passed a vote to lift Cuba's suspension from the OAS. In its resolution ([http://www.oas.org/consejo/sp/AG/ag04632e01.doc AG/RES 2438]), the General Assembly decided that:

# Resolution VI, [...] which excluded the Government of Cuba from its participation in the Inter-American system, hereby ceases to have effect
# The participation of the Republic of Cuba in the OAS will be the result of a process of dialogue initiated at the request of the Government of Cuba, and in accordance with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS.

The reincorporation of Cuba as an active member had arisen regularly as a topic within the inter-American system (e.g., it was intimated by the outgoing ambassador of Mexico in 1998)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oas.org/OASpage/press2002/en/Press98/020498ce.htm |title=Mexico Calls for Cuba's Reinstatement into the |publisher=OAS |date=1998-02-04 |access-date=2012-03-23}}</ref> but most observers did not see it as a serious possibility while the Socialist government remained in power. On 6 May 2005, [[President of Cuba|President]] Fidel Castro reiterated that the island nation would not "be part of a disgraceful institution that has only humiliated the honor of Latin American nations".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B2355B35C-068E-4DFE-879E-3E8836A38EA4%7D&language=EN |title=Fidel Castro: OAS Is an Instrument of the US – Prensa Latina |publisher=Plenglish.com |date= |access-date=2012-03-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011190122/http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B2355B35C-068E-4DFE-879E-3E8836A38EA4%7D&language=EN |archive-date=2008-10-11 }}</ref>

In an editorial published by ''[[Granma (newspaper)|Granma]]'', Fidel Castro applauded the Assembly's "rebellious" move and said that the date would "be recalled by future generations."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/junio/mier3/Reflections-2june.html |title=The Trojan horse |author=Fidel Castro |work=[[Granma (newspaper)|Granma]] |date=2009-06-02 |access-date=2009-06-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622101120/http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/junio/mier3/Reflections-2june.html |archive-date=2011-06-22 }}</ref> However, a Declaration of the Revolutionary Government dated 8 June 2009 stated that while Cuba welcomed the Assembly's gesture, in light of the Organization's historical record  "Cuba will not return to the OAS".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/junio/lun8/Declaration.html |title=Declaration of the Revolutionary Government |work=[[Granma (newspaper)|Granma]] |date=2009-06-08 |access-date=2009-06-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219170708/http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/junio/lun8/Declaration.html |archive-date=2012-02-19 }}</ref>

Cuba joined the [[Latin American Integration Association]] becoming the tenth member (out of 12) on 26 August 1999. The organization was set up in 1980 to encourage trade integration association. Its main objective is the establishment of a common market, in pursuit of the economic and social development of the region.

On September 15, 2006, Cuba officially took over leadership of the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] during the 14th summit of the organization in Havana.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2448962&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 |title=ABC News: ABC News |publisher=Abcnews.go.com |access-date=2012-03-23}}</ref>