By Sir Ronald Sanders
(The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto. The views expressed are entirely his own)
As they are preparing to exit the White House and the State Department on January 20, the outgoing Donald Trump administration has planted some explosives for the foreign policy of the government of Joseph Biden Jr.
A grenade has already been thrown into policies that Antony Blinken, Biden’s nominated Secretary of State, might pursue in relation to Cuba and, consequently, the Caribbean region.
In the dying days of his tenure as Secretary of State and only 9 days before Blinken takes over the reins of U.S. foreign policy, Mike Pompeo placed Cuba on a List of State Sponsors of Terrorism that the U.S. draws up unilaterally.
As the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) stated on January 13, the listing of Cuba as a sponsor of state terrorism is “baseless”. Caribbean Community (CARIOM) Heads of Government on the same day were unequivocal in their view that “Cuba’s international conduct does not in any way warrant that designation”.
In pursuing this pugnacious policy against Cuba, including unravelling the painstakingly weaved policy of the previous Obama administration to try to normalize relations between Cuba and the U.S., Trump’s government is seeking to maintain the support of Cuban-Americans in Florida both for raising money for his political activity in the coming years and to be able to deliver the state for a Presidential candidate he favours – maybe even for himself in 2024. As Juan Gonzalez, the incoming Senior Director for Western Hemisphere in the Biden National Security Council, has pointed out, securing Florida for the 2020 Presidential election was the principal motivation of Trump’s Cuba policy throughout his term in office.
Little publicized is a corollary of the Trump-Pompeo Cuba policy for the countries of CARICOM. Less than a month ago, the U.S. government sent a questionnaire to Caribbean countries. The answers will be used to compile its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report that is submitted to the U.S. Congress. The December questionnaire included a new and sinister section related specifically to workers from China and Cuba.
In relation to Cuba – from which every Caribbean country has sought and received – vital help through the provision of medical personnel, the U.S. asks questions which are entirely the business of a sovereign State, or the business of sovereign States which have entered contracts. The questions intrude glaringly on State rights. Were the same questions put to the Government of the U.S., it would quite rightly firmly reject the very audacity of asking them.
Trafficking in persons is a very troubling activity. It is one that every country should combat vigorously. In this regard, it is true to say that Caribbean countries have worked diligently with the U.S. to try to stamp out the activity, related to what amounts to modern day slavery in its worse form, and at its best to the criminal exploitation of vulnerable persons, particularly women and girls.
However, this attempt by the outgoing Trump administration to include Cuban medical workers and professionals, serving Caribbean governments, is an attempt to politicize an otherwise noble cause. The objective appears to be the classification of Cuban medical personnel as ‘trafficked persons’, thereby implicating both Cuba and Caribbean governments in criminal activity. The latter would be the weaponizing of a policy against countries that discards cooperation against crime and replaces it with coercion.
The implications of this are quite serious and will be a priority of the work of Caribbean countries with the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress because of the dangers posed to them.
Under the U.S. TIP Act, the non-trade related, and non-humanitarian assistance can be withdrawn from any country considered not to be in compliance “with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” and “is not making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with such standards”. Of course, the determination of what is “minimum standards” and “significant efforts” is made entirely by officials of the U.S. government.
Every year, the TIP report classifies countries from Tier 1 (the most acceptable) to Tier 3 (the least acceptable). Of the 14 independent CARICOM countries, two of them – the Bahamas and Guyana – were listed in 2020 at Tier 1. Seven countries were in Tier 2. These were: Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. On the Tier 2 Watch List were Barbados and Belize. For unclear reasons, Dominica, Grenada, and St Kitts-Nevis appear in none of the Tiers. In the event, no Caribbean country is at the worst level – Tier 3.
However, if the presence of Cuban personnel in CARICOM countries becomes a criterion for the U.S. to unilaterally declare a human trafficking offence, this will injure U.S. relations with CARICOM countries for no good reason, since U.S. security and U.S. values are not threatened in any way.
The addition to the U.S. TIP questionnaire of a section on Cuban and Chinese workers fitted well with the anti-China, anti-Cuba stance of the Trump administration to serve its domestic political agenda.
How much of this booby trap left for the Biden administration is known to its incoming State Department and National Security teams is not clear, but the Caribbean must regard advising them as a priority. The next U.S. TIP report will be published and sent to the U.S. Congress in June.
The U.S. publication, Foreign Policy, recently quoted a U.S. official as saying that Pompeo’s team is engaged in “parting shots deliberately aimed at hampering the incoming administration’s foreign policy”. Where the Caribbean’s interests are affected by those “parting shots”, the region must act in unity to safeguard them.
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There is only one sovereign Country in the world and that is the USA. America has no respect for the sovereignty of other countries. The habit of America in undermining governments that don’t buy into their fake and selfish foreign policy is well documented. 2020 should be a teachable year for many of us who believe that America is a free Democracy as we are now seeing sanction on free speech and massive allegations of elections not free and fair.
I’m sure had Trump won this election the Caribbean know for its peace and tranquility would have become a troubled region. Not safe for tourism and alike. I hope Biden change the course that this administration was persuing and get to the negotiating table with those it has a phylosophical difference. Caricom needs to stand-up and seriously warn Guyana not to let its grounds be used for any such US interention into the internal affairs of Venezuela. This would distabalize the entire region. We have seen over the past months how the US democracy was almost thrown over by these very same people. Lesson to be learned.
In four years how did Trump disturb the peace and tranquility of the region more than Obama, Bush, Clinton and the rest? American foreign policy remains the same regardless of who the president is.
Don’t know where you have lived, but under Obama, Cuba policy was relaxed and ambassadors were exchanged again. Flight were permitted and airlines took advantage of it. Trump reversed all Obama policies as it related to Cuba and just recently unilatery added them to the list of countries that promotes terrorism. Venezuela under Trump was santioned so hard that they cannot even sell one drop of oil. Are you that un-informed that you do not know these things. Under Obama All Caribbean Islands were invited to come and meet with Obama in Jamaica, under Trump a choosen few were invited to come to the USA to meet with Trump. And the picture that was posted was looking like a bunch of little boys sitting in a foyer waiting for the massa to come.
Trump has devided Caricom on the Cuba and Venezuela issue. In the past CARICOM spook with one voice. Not now. Everyone for himself. Hoping tht if they side with Trump they will be treated differently. The rush to have military exercises with Guyana something new. Just like how they have them with South Korea to the concern of the North Korea
You can’t answer a simple question. Caricom policy towards Cuba never changed under Trump there was no division. There was always some division on the Venezuela issue starting with Bush.
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