Reseña

The project’s themes were developed by four experts, and this text is one of its main outcomes. The first paper, entitled The Greater Caribbean: Challenges to Development and International Relations in a World in Transition, was written by Dr. Jacqueline Laguardia Martínez of The University of the West Indies. Her work examines the current state of international relations in the Greater Caribbean in order
to understand the region’s place in today’s geopolitical landscape.
The study addresses issues related to Greater Caribbean regionalism, climate change, reform of the international financial architecture, food insecurity, and the energy transition. It also dedicates a section
to Haiti’s multidimensional crisis and to the Greater Caribbean’s relations with the United States,
the BRICS, and particularly the People’s Republic of China. It concludes by emphasizing the need to revitalize regional mechanisms such as SICA, CARICOM, and the ACS in terms of scope, operation, and influence.
Regional security remains a priority issue for both the United States and the Caribbean. Several maritime trade routes to and from the United States cross the Caribbean through the Panama Canal, serving as key corridors for the projection of power in the Atlantic toward Europe and the Americas. In
this context, geographical proximity, maritime routes, economic ties, and natural resources combine to make the Caribbean strategically important for the United States (García Muñiz and Rodríguez Beruff,
1994, p. 28). This issue is addressed by Dr. Jorge Rodríguez Beruff, retired professor at the University of Puerto
Rico, in his text Current Challenges to Caribbean Security. He begins from the premise that the Greater Caribbean is vast and heterogeneous, and that analyzing Caribbean security today requires recognizing
that the region is undergoing profound transformations, in which longstanding problems are worsening or converging with new challenges.
Caribbean Studies Center His research examines new political trends and conflicts in the Caribbean, as well as broader regional geopolitical dynamics. It highlights shared security challenges such as natural disasters, climate change, epidemics, drug trafficking and transnational crime, authoritarian tendencies in some states, institutional
crises such as Haiti’s, and unresolved border disputes.
The Caribbean is also an area of geopolitical and economic interest for both traditional and emerging powers. This economic dimension is explored by Dr. Etna Bayona Velásquez of the University of Magdalena, Colombia, and Dr. Joaquín Viloria de la Hoz, manager of the Cultural Center of the Bank
of the Republic in Santa Marta and professor at the University of Magdalena, in their study Trade Relations of the Greater Caribbean Basin with the United States in the 21st Century. Their research
analyzes the economic performance of the countries and territories of the Greater Caribbean Basin, including GDP, trade balances, foreign direct investment, and major infrastructure projects. It also
examines sectoral trends, trade agreements, investment flows, and development aid provided by the United States.
We thank the Embassy of the United States for sponsoring this work, which makes a significant and timely contribution to the study of Caribbean international relations, regional security challenges, and Caribbean economies in a highly volatile geopolitical and economic context, and in which opportunities for regional development are identified.