Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Chairman John Briceno has described as inexcusable, incomprehensible, and unforgivable, the decision by the United States to exclude Cuba and Venezuela from the ongoing ninth Summit of the Americas.
And he has called on US President Joe Biden to lift the decades-old “illegal” embargo against Cuba.
Addressing the first Plenary Session that was attended by President Biden whose administration did not invite Cuba, Venezuela, or Nicaragua to the Summit over concerns about human rights and a lack of democracy, the Belize Prime Minister insisted that the Summit belongs to all of the Americas.
“It is therefore inexcusable that all countries of the Americas are not here, and the power of the Summit diminished by their absence. It is incomprehensible that we would isolate countries of the Americas which have provided strong leadership and contributed to the hemisphere on the critical issues of our time,” he said.
Speaking specifically about Cuba, Briceño said that the Spanish-speaking Caribbean nation had provided consistent, unmatched cooperation in health to almost two-thirds of the countries in the Western Hemisphere.
He noted that Cuban healthcare experts were on the frontline in the very early and uncertain days of his country’s COVID-19 response, and many Belizean doctors and healthcare professionals are trained in Cuba.
Briceño called on President Biden to lift the blockade against Cuba and build bonds of friendship with its people.
“The illegal blockade against Cuba is an affront to humanity. It continues to cause untold suffering. It is inconsistent with our values. In fact, it is unamerican,” the CARICOM chairman said.
Similarly, he said, Venezuela had done much toward energy security for the Caribbean region through its innovative financing programs, and its absence from the Summit was “unforgivable”.
“At this most critical juncture when the future of our hemisphere is at stake, we stand divided. And that is why this Summit of the Americas should have been inclusive,” Briceño said.
“Belize rejects the unilateral right of any country to impose exclusions. We assert, unequivocally, that the principle of inclusivity must be the touchstone of all future summits. Geography, not politics, defines the Americas,” he added.
Meantime, the Belizean leader highlighted that people across Latin America and the Caribbean are weathering successive and simultaneous crises.
He said Caribbean economies are in a precarious place because of inherent vulnerabilities to external shocks, including exposure to climate change and devastating storms, and the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the war in Ukraine have further battered those economies.
“Notwithstanding the 6 percent recovery in global growth in 2021, CARICOM member states, except for Guyana, recorded an average growth rate of one percent. A few member states experienced even further GDP losses ranging from -1 percent to -6.3 percent.
John Briceno said Caribbean countries were ready to join their partners in the Americas to design measures that will provide urgent and targeted responses to arrest this decline.
CMC/
