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“[…] The MSJ is calling the Donald Trump/ Marco Rubio position for what it is. An act of an imperialist bully.
“This is the 200-year-old Monroe Doctrine on steroids. That doctrine underpins the belief by the US that every country and every individual in this hemisphere is subject to US control. It must be repudiated and rejected…”
The following press statement on the United States threat to sanction countries that use healthcare professionals from Cuba was submitted to Wired868 by Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) political leader David Abdulah:
There has been a lot happening in the last few days in matters of international affairs. Given that this is the carnival weekend, the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) will issue a fuller statement post-carnival.
However, the MSJ cannot stay silent in the face of the immoral, illegitimate bullying of the United States in their attempt to bring about regime change in Cuba by threats of new and unprecedented sanctions against citizens of third countries.
We refer specifically to the announcement by the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, that the US will cancel/ not issue visas to citizens of countries who “are believed to be responsible for, or involved in… particularly Cuban overseas medical missions”.
This Trump/ Rubio axis wants to end Cuban medical brigades that have seen thousands of highly trained Cuban medical professionals—doctors, nurses, specialists—work in countries throughout the global south.
These medical professionals often go to places where no other country wants to assist and ensures that there is relief for millions. Countless lives have been saved, many more treated with medical care at all levels: primary to tertiary hospitalisation.
Let us never forget that it was the Cuban medical brigades that bravely went into countries being affected by the dreaded Ebola virus. Cubans have, even in the face of violence by gangs, been in Haiti for many years.
Cubans responded to Italy when that country was overwhelmed by Covid. When disasters like a hurricane or earthquake strike Cuba is there to help the most vulnerable.
(Copyright EPA-EFE/ Ernesto Mastrascusa.)
Compare that to the US which just withdrew from the World Health Organisation—a decision that will has very many negative consequences for people’s lives the world over.
Here in Trinidad and Tobago and throughout the Caribbean there are Cuban health care professionals who do an excellent job in supplementing our own doctors and nurses. They answered the call when we needed additional trained resources during Covid. We are indebted to them.
The MSJ has noted the statements by various Caricom Ministers of Foreign Affairs following their emergency meeting last Friday. They have used diplomatic language to state their concerns with the US position and seek dialogue.
It is significant that Rubio did not announce this prior to the Caricom Heads of Government meeting in Barbados, which would have resulted in an immediate collective position by all Caricom heads. It is classic Trump strategy to divide and rule.
The MSJ is calling the Trump/ Rubio position for what it is. An act of an imperialist bully.
This is the 200-year-old Monroe Doctrine on steroids. That doctrine underpins the belief by the US that every country and every individual in this hemisphere is subject to US control. It must be repudiated and rejected!
The MSJ says that every Caribbean citizen who has a sense of dignity and self-respect must raise their voices loudly in condemning this decision by Trump/ Rubio. Bullies don’t respect those who whimper.
Rubio is—to use the Cuban term—a gusano (a worm). He is from the community in Miami of Cubans or descendants of Cubans who have virulently opposed the Cuban revolution from day one.
They want a return to the Cuba before 1959 where a few wealthy families and US multinationals and the Mafia controlled the economy, benefitted from the wealth while millions of Cubans lived in poverty.
This community with the full backing of the US state (CIA) spawned very many acts of terrorism against the Cuban people, including the 1976 bombing of the Cubana airplane off the coast of Barbados that killed all 73 people on board.
Now, these same actors want to punish the citizens of other countries for the desire to improve the health of their people by having Cuban medical brigades.
It is our sovereign right as independent nations to make policy decisions that are in the best interest of our people. Nobody can deny us that right! And it is a right that we must not surrender.
(Copyright AFP 2014/ Roberto Schmidt.)
As one great Caribbean nationalist, former Prime Minister of Barbados Errol Barrow, once said: “we will be friends of all and satellites of none”.
We call on Caricom Heads of Government to take a united, strong, uncompromising position on this. It is not just about Cuba’s medical professionals assisting us with our health care—it is fundamentally about our sovereign right as independent nations to establish agreements with other sovereign states.
Heads, your last Summit just days ago was under the theme: strength in unity. You need to now display that strength and that unity in the face of the bully of the north.
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Will the MSJ also call on its former colleagues, comrades and members to distance themselves from the Oppositions stated position on The USA government re- Venezuela?
I don’t think this U.S. administration is sure of it’s ideology let alone understands the ripple effects of its convoluted decision making. These alone makes it one of the most dangerous governments we’ve seen in this region (possibly the world) in recent times. The level of uncertainty/chaos they are sowing is not good for world peace (we haven’t gotten to matters relating to the world’s economy).