where is the caribbean geographically located?
Puerto Rico
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 Puerto Rico is a large island on the northern rim of the Caribbean Sea that is home to approximately 4 million people . It lies due east of the Dominican Republic and to the west of the United States Virgin Islands . Puerto Rico was first colonized by the Spanish , but was ceded to the United States in the wake of the Spanish – American War in 1898 . Puerto Ricans were granted American citizenship in 1917 , although it remained apart from the United States and has a constitution that provides for self @-@ government . 41 years after Puerto Ricans became American citizens , Puerto Rico sent its first delegation to the Olympics at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London , England . The American commonwealth has sent a delegation to all sixteen Summer Olympics between then and the 2008 Beijing Olympics in addition to six Winter Olympic games . 

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 National governments , domestic non @-@ governmental organizations , and international aid agencies established hundreds of shelters , evacuated hundreds of thousands of people , raised millions of dollars of resources , and rallied thousands of rescue workers as the powerful hurricane churned through the Caribbean . Despite a number of near misses , Hurricane Dean did not make landfall in the Greater Antilles and the islands were spared the brunt of the storm . 

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 = = Interaction with Haiti and Jamaica = = 

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 = = = Greater Antilles and Central America = = = 

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 Cuba and Venezuela were the founding members of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas ( ALBA ) . ALBA sought to redistribute wealth evenly throughout member countries , to protect the region 's agriculture , and to oppose economic liberalization and privatization . ALBA 's origins lay in a December 2004 agreement signed between the two countries , and was formalized through a People 's Trade Agreement also signed by Evo Morales ' Bolivia in April 2006 . Castro had also been calling for greater Caribbean integration since the late 1990s , saying that only strengthened cooperation between Caribbean countries would prevent their domination by rich nations in a global economy . Cuba has opened four additional embassies in the Caribbean Community including : Antigua and Barbuda , Dominica , Suriname , Saint Vincent and the Grenadines . This development makes Cuba the only country to have embassies in all independent countries of the Caribbean Community . 
