Time to take action- Collectively!
Cuba-USA relations once again took center stage this past weekend with the announcement by the White House of renewed measures meant to further strangle the Cuban economy. Closer to home, just as one was beginning to process that information, news broke out of St. Lucia that a seemingly resigned Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre, had made a most startling announcement.
Before a roomful of people which included, by his admission, St.Lucian doctors trained in Cuba, Prime Minister Pierre informed that the United States of America had directed that continued training of doctors in Cuba could not continue.
Clearly the White House has decided to double down on its threats to go after Cuba following the Venezuela kidnap of its president, Nicholas Maduro. A few days ago, on January 29, President Trump signed an Executive Order declaring a “national emergency and establishing a process to impose tariffs on goods from countries that sell or otherwise provide oil to Cuba.”
After 65 years of a failed policy, implemented with the objective of starving the Cuban nation to the point where they would rise up against their government, reasonable persons would have expected a change in approach.
In fact, when President Barack Obama moved to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba in 2016, he argued that a policy which had not worked for decades required a change in strategy from the US. He therefore announced that United States citizens could travel freely to Cuba for educational and sporting purposes. That policy coincided with reforms within Cuba and saw the burgeoning growth of a nascent private sector in Cuba. Money began circulating among ordinary Cubans who used their ingenuity to operate cafeterias, restaurants and other small businesses. Persons converted their homes into B&B’s to cater to the influx of tourists. The population began to wean itself off the State. It signalled how positive change could impact positively.
Then came Trump in his first term who immediately reversed all the Obama measures.This immediately precipitated another series of hardships for the beleaguered Cuban population, faced once again with limits on remittances, among other punitive measures.
So, the most powerful military and economic power on earth is insisting that the Cuban economy and its people must be starved to satisfy a family quarrel between Cubans who refuse to rise up against their own, and those who have chosen a path of hate and revenge from a base in Miami or Washington.
That power is now dictating to poor countries in the Caribbean that we cannot even train our nationals in medicine in Cuba. Scholarships which at tremendous sacrifice, Cuba has been offering free of cost. Bursaries which almost guarantee that, without a massive student loan to repay, our doctors can return to serve their people.
Already, across the region, the reaction by persons has been of disbelief. How can this be?
Why are we not hearing a coordinated response from CARICOM to this picking off one by one, of our region’s governments? Is CARICOM discussing a coordinated push back to this insult to our sovereignty? Or is it that our leaders are not being forthright about explaining exactly what pressures are being forced upon them, and us? First we hear of our leaders being coerced to accept deportees from the USA, and now orders are handed down telling us from whom we can accept help to train our citizens in the medical field.
Our response must be a coordinated one.We cannot act alone, just as we cannot allow the people of Cuba to suffer alone. Our governments must read and respond to the unmistakable signals from their populations which are seeking courageous, coordinated and strategic leadership. We cannot just accept any orders thrown at us without questioning whether such would redound to our benefits. To do so is to lie down and die. This is a moral imperative! It’s a time for action.
Comments
