Absent from Fidel Castro’s centenary colloquium, Jamaica’s longest-serving prime minister — the last survivor of the 1972 decision that broke Cuba’s hemispheric isolation — sends a tribute that doubles as a warning to the Caribbean of 2026.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica August 11, 2026 - Havana’s Palace of Conventions filled on Monday with more than 1,500 delegates drawn from some 63 countries, convened for the First International Colloquium “Fidel: Legacy and Future” — four days of argument and commemoration timed to close on Thursday, 13 August, the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Fidel Castro Ruz.