The revolution that has taken place in the areas of information and communications technologies brings the opportunity to Caribbean nations to skip economic development stages and to leapfrog into a new economic model sustained in a knowledge based economy. The integration of information technologies into a national development strategy can mean the eternal dreamed opportunity of putting an end to the unfulfilled historical tasks of the industrial revolution and of becoming part of the new digital age. To make this dream possible, Caribbean countries must concentrate on the development of telecommunications infrastructure, on establishing a regulatory framework, approving an intellectual properties' rights law and paying special attention to the education of the future workforce. Besides the challenges presented to the Caribbean nations in their drive to be part of the new economy, there is a lot of work to be done in the area of the security of the region that affects equally the Caribbean countries and the United States. Massive illegal migration into the United States mainland is a by-product of deteriorating economic and social conditions and political instability of some Caribbean nations that no longer can offer hope to their citizens, who, by fleeing their native countries, create social tensions in the United States.
Political instability disrupts market dynamics, which affects the natural flow of the economy.
In this sense, I must say that Haiti and Cuba have been in the past and will continue to be within the new Bush administration, sources of great concern for U.S. policymakers. There is no doubt, nowadays, that democracy is the only acceptable form of government, but careful thought should be given at the appropriate way of approaching democratisation in Cuba and Haiti. It is my belief that isolation and a trade embargo on Cuba for the past four decades have been unsuccessful in trying to bring the Castro regime to its knees. It is time, therefore, to follow other paths. Lifting the embargo would not only allow the Cuban people access to world markets, but would also expose them to a new set of democratic ideas and values.