ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — Prime Minister Gaston Browne says the Antigua and Barbuda Government changed its intended support for a United Nations resolution concerning Cuba following a…
ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — Prime Minister Gaston Browne says the Antigua and Barbuda Government changed its intended support for a United Nations resolution concerning Cuba following a warning from the United States about the possible effect on the ongoing negotiations regarding visa for nationals wanting to visit the North American country. “In fact, I’ll make this public.
We had decided to support Cuba on a resolution recently and change our position because we had a call from the State Department advising us that they’re making progress in the negotiations and if we supported Cuba, that it would undermine the negotiations, so we changed our position,” Browne told listeners to his weekly radio programme last weekend. “Our instructions to the ambassador in New York was to abstain.
I noticed he did not show up, I don’t know what happened, but we changed our position because of certain things that were said and we’re still trying, but it’s not something we have any control over,” he added. Of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries that were present at the October 28 debate, Jamaica, Haiti, and Guyana abstained, while Trinidad and Tobago voted against.
The Bahamas, Belize, Barbados, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, and Suriname, all voted in favour of the resolution, while Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and St Lucia were marked as being absent when the vote was taken.
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has since doubled down on her Government’s decision to support the United States trade and economic embargo against Cuba, saying “We cannot want to live in light at home and remain silent when others live in the shadows of oppression and exploitation”.
This is a source-linked briefing. Read the original report from Jamaica Observer .