Relations with Latin American and Caribbean Countries (Jamaica)

Jamaica joined the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1969 in an effort to overcome the traditional mutual indifference between the English-speaking Caribbean and Spanish-speaking countries. Jamaica and Mexico were the only nations to advocate, in early 1970s OAS meetings, for the normalization of relations with Cuba. During the 1970s, Jamaica conducted various exchanges and agreements with Hispanic countries, particularly Mexico and Venezuela, and also established a shipping line with seven Latin American nations. Jamaica was a signatory to the 1975 treaty establishing the Latin American Economic System (SELA) and has been an active member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Jamaica supported Panama in its dispute with the United States over the Panama Canal during the 1970s, and in 1986, Prime Minister Edward Seaga’s government sought and received assistance from Puerto Rico, with which it signed a trade agreement. Jamaica’s non-English-speaking neighbors in the Greater Antilles—Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic—were not major factors in its foreign policy, except for Cuba during the Manley administrations (1972–1980). Jamaica, however, played a key role in negotiating the departure of Haiti’s lifelong president Jean-Claude Duvalier in late 1986.

Seaga’s government held that the Central American crisis could best be resolved through peace initiatives introduced by the Contadora Group, originally formed by Panama, Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela, which first met on Panama’s Contadora Island in January 1983. The negotiations later expanded to include five Central American countries. Jamaica’s relations with Nicaragua were less controversial than with Cuba; in 1984, Jamaica received Nicaragua’s first ambassador. Nonetheless, Seaga’s government expressed concern about the Sandinista regime’s authoritarian nature.

Jamaica has been an active member of the Commonwealth of Nations. It hosted a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference in 1964 and became the first Caribbean country to host a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1975. Its relations with other Commonwealth Caribbean members were shaped more by their shared history under British rule than by geography. Jamaica preferred to cooperate more with fellow English-speaking Caribbean members than with nearby Spanish-speaking nations — except during Manley’s close relations with Cuba in the 1970s. Jamaica advocated for regional economic integration with other English-speaking Caribbean countries, joining the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) in 1968. On July 4, 1973, CARIFTA merged into CARICOM, formed by Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and Guyana. Jamaica also joined several related CARICOM institutions, including the Caribbean Development Bank, Caribbean Examinations Council, Caribbean Investment Corporation, Caribbean Meteorological Council, Council of Legal Education, and Caribbean Regional Shipping Council.

During the Seaga administration, Jamaica strengthened its diplomatic ties within the Commonwealth Caribbean. It supported Belize’s right to independence, celebrated on September 21, 1981, and pledged solidarity in case of armed attack. Jamaica also opened diplomatic relations with Belize in October 1984.Relations with the Eastern Caribbean microstates deepened, and ties with Trinidad and Tobago—already close—grew even stronger. Seaga and Trinidad’s Prime Minister George Chambers exchanged visits between 1985 and 1986.

However, Jamaica’s relations were not friendly with all Commonwealth Caribbean members. Relations with the Cayman Islands were strained. Once governed together under the same protectorate until Jamaica’s 1962 independence, they diverged: Jamaica faced financial struggles, while the Cayman Islands prospered as a tax haven and banking center. By 1985, Jamaica had a negative image there, associated with street vendors (higglers), marijuana, and marriages of convenience for residency.

Although Jamaica avoided formal political or military integration with other Commonwealth Caribbean islands, it actively sought regional cooperation in the 1980s. In January 1986, Prime Minister Seaga established the Caribbean Democratic Union (CDU) — a regional branch of the International Democratic Union (IDU) — to provide a forum for regional political dialogue. The CDU included ruling centrist parties from seven Caribbean nations: Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Montserrat. The Prime Minister of Bermuda attended the inaugural meeting as an observer. Seaga, elected CDU president, described the group as an attempt to revive a political alliance similar to the West Indies Federation (1958–1962).