Browne questions T&T’s UN abstention on Cuba

KAY-MARIE FLETCH­ER

Se­nior Re­porter

kay-marie.fletch­[email protected]

For­mer for­eign and Cari­com af­fairs min­is­ter Dr Amery Browne is call­ing on the Gov­ern­ment to ex­plain Trinidad and To­ba­go’s de­ci­sion to ab­stain from a Unit­ed Na­tions Gen­er­al As­sem­bly (UN­GA) vote call­ing for an end to the Unit­ed States’ eco­nom­ic em­bar­go on Cu­ba.

Speak­ing at an Op­po­si­tion me­dia brief­ing yes­ter­day, Dr Browne said the de­ci­sion marks a sig­nif­i­cant de­par­ture from T&T’s long-stand­ing for­eign pol­i­cy po­si­tion, not­ing that suc­ces­sive ad­min­is­tra­tions have sup­port­ed UN res­o­lu­tions against the em­bar­go since 1992.

Dr Browne ques­tioned what man­date the Gov­ern­ment had to adopt this new po­si­tion and whether cit­i­zens were con­sult­ed be­fore the change.

“Why? On what ba­sis have you changed the prin­ci­pled stance of Trinidad and To­ba­go in this man­ner? Trinidad and To­ba­go has al­ways sup­port­ed Unit­ed Na­tions de­nounce­ments of the em­bar­go. Why have we done so? Well, ac­cord­ing to the Unit­ed Na­tions, the em­bar­go vi­o­lates the Unit­ed Na­tions Char­ter, which is an agree­ment which binds all mem­ber states of the UN. It al­so vi­o­lates in­ter­na­tion­al law and sig­nif­i­cant­ly for us, these uni­lat­er­al sanc­tions al­so af­fect the third coun­try’s le­git­i­mate rights to en­gage in free­dom of com­merce.”

Dr Browne re­ject­ed the ar­gu­ment that the em­bar­go is sole­ly a bi­lat­er­al is­sue be­tween the Unit­ed States and Cu­ba, say­ing it has wider im­pli­ca­tions for coun­tries that en­gage in in­ter­na­tion­al com­merce.

“I saw the Prime Min­is­ter a cou­ple months ago say­ing that the sanc­tions are ex­clu­sive­ly a bi­lat­er­al is­sue be­tween the Unit­ed States and Cu­ba. Rub­bish. Ac­cord­ing to Unit­ed Na­tions, and to any­one with an io­ta of sense, these sanc­tions al­so af­fect third coun­tries, such as us, such as every oth­er coun­try in the world, be­sides the Unit­ed States and Cu­ba, their free­dom to le­git­i­mate­ly en­gage in com­merce. And that is why the Unit­ed Na­tions Gen­er­al As­sem­bly, that is why Cari­com, that is why re­gion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al or­gan­i­sa­tions across the spec­trum have al­ways had a stake and a voice and a role and a vote in this mat­ter. We can­not ex­clude our­selves. We can­not be ab­stain­ing. We can­not be flee­ing the room as has oc­curred re­cent­ly. Trinidad and To­ba­go was looked up­on as a leader.”

He fur­ther crit­i­cised the Gov­ern­ment’s de­ci­sion as T&T pre­pares to as­sume a seat on the Unit­ed Na­tions Se­cu­ri­ty Coun­cil, ar­gu­ing that the coun­try should be demon­strat­ing lead­er­ship and con­sis­ten­cy in its for­eign pol­i­cy.

Guardian Me­dia reached out to For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter Sean Sobers for a re­sponse on the mat­ter, but re­ceived no re­sponse up to press time.