Total disrespect, says SVG/Cuba Friendly Society

The St Vincent and the Grenadines/Cuba Friendship Society has expressed its “total condemnation and abhorrence” of the action of the Government of the United States in “using the restrictive and discriminatory contents of the reactionary Helms-Burton Act to deny the use of the Hilton Hotel in Port of Spain to host the scheduled CARICOM/Cuba Summit.”{{more}}

A release from the Society said, “We view this act as being grossly disrespectful to a friendly country, Trinidad and Tobago, and a region which has not only enjoyed amicable long-standing relations with the Government and people of the United States of America, but continue to cherish and value those relations.

“It is tantamount to an assault on the sovereignty of CARICOM nations and their right to develop relations with other countries on the same principle on which relations with the USA are based.

“The Helms-Burton Act and others of its ilk have been roundly condemned in international quarters as discriminatory and a violation of accepted international norms governing relations between sovereign states. This denial of the use of hotel premises in Trinidad and Tobago, merely under a franchise agreement with a US company, represents gross disrespect for the sovereignty of the CARICOM states and their right to choose to foster and develop international relations on the basis of the same principles on which their relations with the USA is based.

The SVG/Cuba Friendship Society calls once more for the lifting of the ridiculous and cruel embargo against the Cuban people and the repeal of such outmoded legislation as the Helms-Burton Act which facilitate it.”