The U.S. Department of State will allocate $175.8 million to expand high-speed underwater connectivity in the Caribbean and Central America, as announced on Thursday in Washington during the U.S.-Caribbean Dialogue chaired by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.
The program, whose full name is "Countering CCP Control of Caribbean and Central America Undersea Cables," aims to replace outdated infrastructure with secure networks that are independent of providers linked to Beijing, and was reported to Congress in July 2026.
The investment in cables is the largest item of a total package of approximately 340.8 million dollars that Washington announced for the region at the same forum, which brought together high-level delegations from 15 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The meeting fulfilled the commitment that Secretary of State Marco Rubio made to the heads of government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) during their meeting in February in Saint Kitts and Nevis.
The countries identified as potential beneficiaries of the cable program are El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Haiti, although cooperation with Nicaragua is deemed unlikely given the deterioration of relations between Washington and the government of Daniel Ortega.
The package also includes 61.5 million dollars for the ASPIRE program, aimed at strengthening the Caribbean's health self-sufficiency through the ethical and transparent hiring of healthcare professionals; 37 million for new programs under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) to protect critical digital infrastructure, ports, and combat illegal fishing; and an additional 66 million in assistance for drug control, law enforcement, and military funding.
Cuba is excluded from all these announcements: the island is not a member of CARICOM, maintains tense relations with Washington, and is not among the beneficiaries of the submarine cable program.
The vulnerability of Cuban connectivity became evident last September when damage to maritime links left the Isle of Youth without mobile phone service for over a week. The island relies on two international cables: ALBA-1, connected to Venezuela and operational since 2013, and Arimao, linked to Martinique through Orange and ETECSA.
In August, the U.S. had already presented an initiative for submarine cables during the CANTO 2026 event, also excluding Cuba. In December 2022, the Cuban regime had expressed interest in connecting to Florida via a submarine cable, an initiative that never materialized.
By 2027, the U.S. will convene a Caribbean Investment Summit aimed at connecting American businesses and investors with regional partners, as well as a CBSI Security Ministerial in the spring of that year alongside Caribbean ministers and the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS).
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