Two months after US President Barack Obama visited Cuba as part of the process to normalise relations, he is being urged to further demonstrate his commitment to the process by immediately removing the remaining trade restrictions and returning Guantanamo Bay to the Cuban people.
While they welcomed the move by the US to once again include Cuba in the economic framework, the local chapter of Friends of Cuba is highly suspicious of the motives behind what it claims is a strategic move by the US to control Cuba’s growing relationship with the rest of the world.
During a press conference at the Communication Workers Union Hall, Henry Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday president Clyde Callender warned the Cubans to beware of the Trojan horse.
Relating the tale, Callender said: “I have warned my friends to be aware and to note the story of the Trojan horse. They were outside and could not get inside so they used the guise of the Trojan horse to get inside and when they did get inside, they caused a lot of damages to that place.”
Claiming that the US had employed a certain plan of action in the past, Callender alleged that they had “not stopped that isolation policy that they had for Cuba.”
Fifty-five years after President Dwight D Eisenhower imposed trade restrictions with Cuba by slashing the import quota for Cuban sugar, freezing Cuban assets in the US, imposing a near-full trade embargo and cutting off diplomatic ties with the Fidel Castro government, Obama announced on December 17, 2014 that discussions had started with Castro to normalise relations between the two countries.
During his visit to Cuba in March, Obama said the US and Cuba had so far established diplomatic relations and opened embassies, in addition to co-operating on issues of health, agriculture, education, law enforcement; restoring direct flights; establishing a mail service; expanding commercial ties; and generally increasing the capacity of Americans to travel and do business in Cuba.
Claiming that the US was worried about Cuban influence throughout the region, including Latin America and as far away as Africa, Callender said: “The US was left out and have now come in. We are hoping they really do what they have promised.”
Acknowledging the contribution by Cuba to the rest of the world as they have exported skilled human resources in the areas of health, education and sports, Callender vowed that the T&T Friends of Cuba would, “never ever not give solidarity to Cuba.”
Adding that they were “fully aware of the gains, plots and plans by the US” to target left-leading governments, Callender reiterated:
“We call for Obama to remove that blockade immediately and also give back to the Cubans, their property which is the Guatanamo Bay.”
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a US military prison located in Cuba.
At the time of its establishment in January 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the prison camp was established to detain extraordinarily dangerous people, to interrogate detainees in an optimal setting and to prosecute detainees for war crimes.
Vowing that Cuba would not abandon its socialist policies and principles of self-reliance, Burke praised the developmental strides made by the Cuban people during the revolution as they were forced to become innovative and disciplined to achieve what they had.
In response yesterday, the US embassy in Port-of-Spain cited Obama’s remarks when he visited Cuba in March this year where he said: “I’ve made it clear that the US has neither the capacity, nor the intention to impose change on Cuba. What changes come will depend upon the Cuban people.
“We will not impose our political or economic system on you. We recognise that every country, every people, must chart its own course and shape its own model,” he said.
The embassy also noted that on May 16 of this year the Department of State sent a delegation to Havana to participate in the third Bilateral Commission Meeting with the Cuban Foreign Ministry.