Following initial contacts with theoretical physicists at CERN and via experimental collaborations with ALICE groups through third countries, senior Cuban physicists initiated a collaboration with CERN. A Cuban institution, the Centro de Aplicaciones Tecnológicas y Desarrollo Nuclear (CEADEN) of La Habana, is part of the ALICE Collaboration since 2003.

This participation is structured by means of a bi-lateral agreement with the collaboration in the absence of an International Cooperation Agreement (ICA) with CERN.

Cuba participated in the HELEN programme from 2005 to 2009, and some Cuban scientists are currently working at CERN.

A successful ICFA (International Committee for Future Accelerators) School on Instrumentation in Elementary Particle Physics was held in Havana in 2017.