Orville Taylor | Cuba ahora; Jamaica proximo?

Former American ambassador Luis Moreno has reassured the Jamaican people that we have nothing to worry about, despite utterances by Republican Congressman Carlos Giménez, that “Jamaica will face the consequences!” over comments made by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, regarding sanctions, and the humanitarian crisis they have been causing in Cuba.

Now, let us be clear. Trade sanctions and embargos are approved weapons in the arsenal when fighting for human rights. In this country, we know it well. Years before independence, the Jamaican government in 1958 ended relations with South Africa and later Rhodesia, over their inhumane apartheid regimes.

Generally, most countries do not have the power and often the desire, to force other countries to follow suit. The current dispensation with myriad unilateral action taken by the Americans in the region, have found very little support from American traditional allies. It is significant that Britain has disavowed itself of any collaboration with the strikes which have taken multiple lives in the Atlantic and Caribbean sea. Moreover, the United Nations (UN) itself has expressed disapproval of the way in which the Americans have been exercising the power which lie in the hands of the president.

Awesome power legally lies in the hands of the American president, with no equivalence in any modern democracy, and certainly no Commonwealth country.

Indeed, indeed it could very well be this recognition which made our former colonial masters step away from the actions of the Americans. One important distinction between the Prime Minister or President of any Commonwealth democracy, is that she or he can be charged criminally outside of an impeachment, while in office.

As regards Cuba, the imposition of sanctions are absolutely the prerogative of the Americans. They have a sovereign right, especially if backed by the American people, and in the interest of the American people, to sanction any country whose actions are inimical to them.

America parts company with the UN, when it takes an approach expressed by the late global legend, Nelson Mandela. In speaking specifically about his relationship with Cuba, he was quick to point out that it is erroneous to conclude that the enemy of a friend is necessarily one’s enemy also. Moreover, in the very anti-apartheid struggle when South Africans suffered deeply at the hands of a racist regime, America, the poster child of global democracy, continued to relate to South Africa and ignored its pleas.

Unambiguous in its reproach, the UN experts have described the current actions taken by America against Cuba as a “serious violation of international law and a grave threat to a democratic and equitable international order.” This is not the position of Holness or CARICOM. Established to prevent World War III, the UN developed clear guidelines as to appropriate behaviour for nations, including the US.

For clarity, the UN standards of human rights are the very set of norms, which America its own admission, is seeking to enforce. Therefore, it goes without saying that if the basis for American action against Cuba is norms and values emanating from the UN; then the UN standard instructs how their enforcement should be approached.

Over the past year, Jamaicans, and in particular those antipathic to Holness, have excoriated him, suggesting that he should have been as strident as former head of his party and Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who delivered a scathing criticism of the Trump administration and its series of actions in the hemisphere. In fact, he was accused of lacking a certain kind of fortitude and thus, his commonality with Golding was the replacement of the first vowel, with an ‘E’.

Yet, there is a difference between being pragmatic and bravery; the old adage speaks to discretion being the better part of valour.

Holness was elected to act in the interest of the Jamaican people, not his personal ego. Therefore, his parents and senior persons in his party, as well as his lecturers in history and political science must have told him about the recriminating measures taken against us when Michael Manley acted out of principle. As a repercussion, the Jamaican economy was crippled, and recovery still has not fully taken place.

Despite the assurances from Moreno, Giménez does represent a vocal minority, including someone to advise President Donald Trump to add this little nation, who some view as the end of the alimentary canal.

The Prime Minister’s comments certainly reflect the sentiments of the majority of Jamaicans. Furthermore, the diplomatic language is non-confrontational, but truthful. On the other hand, the congressman’s response, apart from being inconsistent with the American principle of free speech might not even be reflective of the interests of the American people.

Recent polls indicate a high level of support for the extreme sanctions taken among Cuban Americans. However, outside of that demographic, the support is at best divisive and represents a minority position. Currently around 66 per cent of Americans do not think that the isolationist approach should continue. Even among Republicans, the split is 55-45 per cent, with a margin of error larger than Don Anderson’s polls.

How does it serve the interest of the American people, if in breaking UN standards to punish its friendly neighbours, it creates hardships in those nations?

Already with an intractable situation in Haiti, a cloud of ill will in Venezuela and populations whose parents remember the impact of American actions in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s, the historical evidence suggests that the sanctions to third parties, would lead to unprecedented levels of hemispheric criminality, with a growing army of anti-Americans deported from the US.

Simply put, punitive actions against Jamaica and other CARICOM nations, could be disastrous for Americans.

Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.