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Caribbean Islands Relations with Communist Countries
Jamaica had no formal relations with any communist state until
Manley's government opened ties with the Soviet Union, Cuba, and
China in 1972. The Manley government later developed diplomatic
ties with Eastern European countries. In addition to his
ideological sympathies with the socialist world, Manley sought new
relationships of trade, technical assistance, loans, and direct aid
from communist countries. He made his first visit to the Soviet
Union in April 1979. While there, he signed a long-term agreement
for Jamaican aluminum exports, as well as joint accords on sea
navigation and fisheries. In addition, Moscow granted Jamaica a
long-term loan to finance the purchase of Soviet goods. Manley also
signed trade agreements with Hungary and Yugoslavia and established
diplomatic and commercial relations with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,
Poland, Romania, and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
Manley's government developed particularly close relations with
Cuba during the late 1970s. Manley visited Cuba in July 1975 and
sent a PNP delegation to the First Congress of the Cuban Communist
Party in Havana that December. Cuban President Fidel Castro
reciprocated Manley's visit by going to Jamaica in October 1977.
Numerous Jamaicans, including members of the Manley government,
were sent to Cuba for ideological indoctrination and paramilitary
training as members of "brigadista" groups. According to the State
Department, by 1980 nearly 500 Cubans were working in Jamaica.
Having made Jamaica's relations with Cuba a major issue during
the 1980 election campaign, Seaga, in his first official act as
prime minister, terminated the "brigadista" program with Cuba in
January 1981. He also expelled most of the Cubans, including
Ambassador Armando Ulises Estrada, identified by the State
Department as a Cuban intelligence operative. Although the Seaga
government stopped short of severing diplomatic ties with Cuba at
that time and allowed a few Cuban Embassy officials to remain, it
broke diplomatic relations with Cuba on October 29, 1981, in an
unprecedented move of major significance in Jamaica's foreign
relations. Havana's refusal to extradite three Jamaicans wanted on
murder and other charges served as an apparent pretext. In a speech
to Parliament on November 1, 1983, Seaga announced the expulsion of
a Cuban journalist and four Soviet diplomats, whom he identified as
operatives of the Committee for State Security (KGB), for espionage
and conspiracy to murder a protocol officer at the Jamaican
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Jamaican-Cuban relations have remained
severed under Seaga's government.
The Seaga government has maintained correct but limited
relations, mainly of an economic nature, with other communist
governments, mostly with the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and China.
The Soviet Union and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
(North Korea) have maintained embassies in Kingston. Under Seaga
Jamaica has not had any military relations with communist
countries.
Data as of November 1987
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