KINGSTON, Jamaica, Jan 12, CMC – Prominent Caribbean academic Professor Rupert Lewis, says Jamaica should have abstained from last week’s Organization of American States (OAS) vote to not recognize the legitimacy of second term of Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro.
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries remain divided on the political situation in Venezuela. Last Thursday, January 10, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Guyana, Haiti and St. Lucia supported the OAS resolution to not recognize the legitimacy of Maduro’s second term. On the other hand, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname voted against the measure.
St. Kitts-Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, and Belize abstained during the vote, while Grenada was not present when the matter was put to the vote.
Call to restore democratic order
In the resolution, the OAS urged all member states and permanent observers to the hemispheric body to adopt, “in accordance with international law and their national legislation, diplomatic, political, economic and financial measures that they consider appropriate, to contribute to the prompt restoration of the democratic order of Venezuela”
OAS wants new elections
The OAS is calling “for new Presidential elections with all necessary guarantees of a free, fair, transparent, and legitimate process to be held at an early date attended by international observers”.
A statement from Jamaica’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted the island “stands ready to lend any support that may be deemed helpful, that could facilitate renewed dialogue to alleviate the serious challenges facing Venezuela.”.
But speaking on a Jamaican radio program, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Government at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Rupert Lewis, said Jamaica should have abstained from the OAS vote, which would not have been a cowardice move.
“I can understand the economic aspect, but I can’t understand the separation of the economic aspect from the political position which the government has not taken,” he told radio listeners.
Jamaica aligning itself with USA policy
Professor Lewis said Jamaica is aligning itself with the ideology of the United States because it is still in a difficult fiscal situation. From the end of December 2017, I saw the drift of the Jamaican Government – by and large faced with a Trump administration, faced with Nikki Haley’s ultimatum to people that we’re watching how you vote.”
Lisa Hanna says PNP very disappointed
Meanwhile, the Opposition Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Lisa Hanna, said she was disappointed Jamaica voted in favor of the OAS resolution.
“It’s not surprising, but it’s extremely disappointing because of our enviable foreign policy approaches to take decisions on principle, one; and how we have been respected in the world in terms of our non-aligned approaches to sovereign states and our humanitarian approaches to bring mediation, especially to countries in this kind of situation,” she said. She claims to be additionally disappointed because Prime Minister Andrew Holness, could not “bring reason to this situation” and “bring CARICOM to the table to say, well, let us see how best to deal with this.”
The opposition spokesman said the position adopted by Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson that the decision was not political, but purely economic, has been exposed to not necessarily be true.
Hanna said Jamaica benefited economically from Venezuela through PetroCaribe and it sends a wrong signal to the international community when it does not support its partners in times of trouble.
