On January 3, 2026, the US invaded Venezuela, abducted and extracted its President and First Lady, leaving 32 Cubans and over-100 Venezuelans dead.
Within minutes, President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were helicoptered to a US warship, flown to the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, then to a New York detention facility.
The Caribbean, Latin America and world haven’t been the same since.
President Donald Trump threatened to invade Venezuela as far back as September 2025 and delivered on that deadly promise.
Emboldened after Venezuela, Trump’s next aim was Greenland, where he angered the US’ European Union (EU) and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies, again putting US interests above and beyond Europe’s security concerns.
Under the new ‘Donroe Doctrine’, the claimed ‘US backyard’ now stretches from Greenland to Chile, making Greenland a ‘Zone of US Interests’ that Washington is prepared to go to war with NATO for.
And then came Iran, where the President dispatched a US armada to the Gulf region to pressure the Ayatollah and President to hurriedly come to the table and ‘make a deal’ – ‘before it’s too late.’
The speed with which all-the-above happened left some forgetful Caribbean analysts requiring a brief refresh on how the first year of President Trump’s second four-year term played out.
Trump entered the White House for his Second Coming on January 20, 2025, after which the US changed from being ruled and governed by whoever electors chose in a two-party race, to having anointed a king to rule by presidential decree in November 2024.
‘King Donald II’ started delivering on his campaign promises through enactment of policies akin to those proposed in the Heritage Foundation’s ‘Project 2025’ document, regarded during the campaign as Trump’s personal manifesto.
By the end of his first 12 months in office, in office, President Trump had chalked up the following dozen campaign promise deliveries:
1. Renamed the Defence Department ‘Department of War’ while pursuing a World Peace Prize
2. Ended USAID (the world’s biggest international aid donor) and allocated its $40 Billion budget to the State Department
3. Threatened to ‘take back’ the Panama Canal
4. Renamed the Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’
5. Unleashed Tariff Armageddon on trading partners
6. Isolated NATO and European Union (EU) allies over Ukraine
7. Threatened Canada’s sovereignty
8. Threatened Greenland’s autonomy
9. Supported Israel’s Genocide in Gaza and other parts of Palestine
10. Tightened the screws on Venezuela and Cuba
11. Treated the Caribbean and Latin America as a new, resource rich American lake in Uncle Sam’s ‘backyard’; and
12. Returned the world to the worst vestiges of the Cold War era with unipolar domination, unilateral coercion and application of the ‘Might is Right’ principle by ‘Peace Through Strength’
Washington joined the EU early in 2026 to apply new pressures on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), through related attacks on their Citizenship by Investment Programs (CIP) and imposition of new entry visa restrictions.
In addition, after outlawing immigrants from 75 countries declared ‘risky’ by Washington, the US is also pressing the region’s leaders to accept asylum-seeking immigrants whose applications it’s rejected and will be deported.
Further, as disclosed by way of a reminder in early February by Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, the US hadn’t given up on its efforts in the first half of 2025 to encourage CARICOM governments to break medical and health cooperation ties with Cuba.
Addressing a conference of doctors of mainly African Descent in Saint Lucia earlier this month, the Saint Lucia leader said the US demand posed “a big problem” for him and other Caribbean leaders.
In that context, he suggested alternatives need to be considered earlier than later, or too late.
Pierre has since explained that while the Caribbean isn’t able to fight the US for deciding its immigration policies, the region might have to “live with and work around” them.
He says while Caribbean nations “remain friends and neighbours of the US,” regional leaders need to be proactive and start addressing possible solutions.
The Saint Lucia PM noted that some unnamed CARICOM nations had already quietly “abandoned” their Cuba health programs.
He made it clear, however, that whatever happens, Saint Lucia will not withdraw or recall local scholarship students already in Havana. As far as this goes, he maintained, “Life goes on.”
Pierre said any end to the Cuba health cooperation program would be “a tremendous loss” to the Caribbean’s health delivery services, as well as to regional students aspiring for Cuban scholarships — and to the Cuban health professionals assisting.
He left no doubt the US policy towards the region Caribbean under the Trump administration has put CARICOM leaders in a bind.
He urged the divided region to understand that unilateral responses will not save the day in light of Washington’s new approach to its Caribbean ties.
Be all-that as it may, no other CARICOM leader has responded – or said anything publicly — about threats to their Cuba health cooperation programs, instead concentrating on the effects of those threats of US Visa restrictions and virtually-forced acceptance of America’s unwanted immigrants.
But now that the US has offered a lame response that hasn’t denied the Saint Lucia leader’s disclosure, regional analysts are starting to rethink — some replacing their earlier hasty criticisms with commendations for his daring public exposure of something all his CARICOM colleagues sat on silently.
However, be all that as it may, the observers and commentators have been handed more talking points to shout about.
The US oil embargo against Cuba has led to closure of gas stations, end to public transportation, vehicles without gas, airlines unable to fly – and surgery suspended while hospitals close down; and
Now, after telling CARICOM nations to stop healthy medical attention with Cuba, the US has just told The Bahamas it should cancel an agreement with China, to build a much-needed public hospital.