re: "House panel votes to defund the OAS"

Josh Rogin at The Cable ("Reporting Inside The Foreign Policy Machine") covers a possibly momentous development.

Money quote(s):

"The House Foreign Affairs Committee began its Wednesday markup of the State Department authorization bill by voting to end funding for the Organization of American States (OAS), with Republicans lambasting the organization as an enemy of freedom and democracy.

The one-hour debate over the GOP proposal to cut the entire $48.5 million annual U.S contribution to the OAS is only the beginning of what looks to be a long and contentious debate over the fiscal 2012 State Department and foreign operations authorization bill written by chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). Democrats accused the Republicans of isolationism and retreat for their proposal, while the Republicans accused the OAS of being an ally of anti-U.S. regimes in Cuba and Venezuela. The OAS Charter was signed in 1948 at a conference led by U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall."

By their fruits shall you know them. Or something like that.

Despite the fine pedigree and charter, lots of international organizations have, to put it gently, not lived up to expectations. The OAS in recent years has acted more like a club of presidents rather than the umbrella group of Western Hemisphere democracies that it's billed as being.

This will, I expect, amount to nothing much. At least not this time. But it puts the OAS (and other international organizations who exist substantially on the U.S. dime) on notice. Personally, I'm rather fond of the OAS's Washington establishment. They do good work. Some of their principals' political wrangling, especially lately, had some pretty bad optics nonetheless.

When it comes to international fora and organizations in general, let's just say that CAA is a fan of the idea. As for the reality: they haven't come close to matching the vision, to say the least. It remains to be seen, in some cases, whether things would be better, in their individual areas of action/inaction, whether their absence would in fact be an improvement.

Be sure to read the whole article for the partisan play-by-play.

JG - EDITORIAL: Watch out, Cuba is coming

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

EDITORIAL: Watch out, Cuba is coming

Published: Saturday May 8, 2010


Industry watchers have been saying it for years. Cuba could become the number one tourist destination in the Caribbean - as soon as the decades-old United States embargo is lifted.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Despite some softening, the US has not lifted sanctions but the news coming out of Havana indicates that 2009 was a bumper year for tourist arrivals. Last year, the Obama administration announced some easing of travel, monetary and telecommunications restrictions on our Spanish-speaking neighbour, and this has become a magnet for investors and visitors."

&

"Not too many miles from Montego Bay, the tourism mecca which has been attracting visitors from across the globe, are communities saturated with gunmen who do not hesitate to turn their weapons on innocents, including infants. How long can Jamaica continue to keep this dirty little 'secret' hidden from potential visitors? And, if the country cannot protect its own citizens, how will it protect tourists?

There is a general notion that the escalating crime in St James is linked to the lottery scam which seeks to con unsuspecting people out of their money by advising them that they are winners in a sweepstake that require them to remit money in order to claim the winnings. But this scam is more than three years old and, apparently, we are no closer to finding the masterminds and punishing them. The sense of frustration, even disappointment, at the inability of the police to stem the bloodletting in the Second City was evident when stakeholders came together this week. "

JO - Time to care again for Caricom

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Time to care again for Caricom

Sir Ronald Sanders

Sunday, April 26, 2009


IT seems that every time the countries of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) make one step forward in the quest for deeper integration, they take two steps backward, and the goal becomes even more elusive.

Sir Ronald Sanders

There have been several recent manifestations of this, one of them being the approach to ALBA - the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas - created by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"One member government of Caricom is formally a member of ALBA and two others have indicated that they might join the organisation.
The government that has joined ALBA is Dominica and the governments that have announced their intention to do so are St Vincent & the Grenadines and Antigua & Barbuda."

"The known members of ALBA are: Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Dominica.

When ALBA was conceived, it was not a treaty organisation and its principles resided in economic co-operation arrangements which appeared to benefit countries that joined it with Venezuela being the principal donor."

&

"Since then, however, a military dimension has crept into the organisation. Both Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega have argued that the member countries of ALBA "should work to form a joint defence strategy and start joining our armed forces, air forces, armies, navies, National Guards, and intelligence forces, because the enemy is the same, the empire (meaning the United States)"."

_____


Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com

Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.

AP -Jamaican police storm airliner to capture gunman

From my archive of press clippings:

AP

Jamaican police storm airliner to capture gunman


By HOWARD CAMPBELL, Associated Press Writer

Howard Campbell, Associated Press Writer – Mon Apr 20, 4:22 pm ET

KINGSTON, Jamaica – A disoriented young man with a gun forced his way past security and barged onto a jetliner destined for Cuba, taking the crew hostage, firing a bullet that grazed the co-pilot's face and demanding to be flown off the island, witnesses and police said Monday.

Read the whole article here.

___
Associated Press writers Mike Melia in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

JO - Caribbean cannot base tourism on US embargo against Cuba

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Caribbean cannot base tourism on US embargo against Cuba

SIR Ronald Sanders

Sunday, April 19, 2009

US President Barack Obama has fulfilled a promise made to Cuban-Americans during last year's presidential campaign to ease travel restrictions allowing them to visit Cuba as they wish, and to send money back home to their dependents.

SIR Ronald Sanders

This decision has caused more than a ripple of concern among tourism authorities in some Caribbean countries, and contradictory statements have been issued about the likely effect on their tourism industries.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The reality is that Caribbean countries have little to fear from President Obama's policy. Easing travel for Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba will have little or no effect on other Caribbean destinations. Very few Cuban-Americans travel on holiday to Caribbean countries.

The real impact on Caribbean tourism will come when the US and Cuba normalise relations and the 49-year-old US embargo on Cuba comes to an end."

&

"Sooner or later the embargo will be lifted and Cuba will be a strong and direct competitor with other Caribbean countries for US tourists and US investment in the tourist industry. Neighbouring Caribbean countries must therefore prepare themselves for this competition and be ready to meet it."

_____

Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com

Sir Ronald Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat.

AP - Cuba protests US visa denial

AP

Cuba protests US visa denial

By EDITH M. LEDERER (AP) – 1 day ago

UNITED NATIONS — Cuba accused the Obama administration of following in the footsteps of the Bush administration and violating U.S. law by denying a visa to the wife of a convicted intelligence agent for the communist nation.

Read the whole article here.

re: "Honduras and Democracy"

Jerry Pournelle at Chaos Manor ("The Original Blog") captured the essential issues.

Money quote(s):

"The most important news is from Honduras, where the army, the courts, and the legislature are united in opposing a change in the Constitution that would allow the country to have a president for life as they have had in Cuba and Venezuela.

Much of the world seems to see the expulsion of the president -- Constitutional and done with a supreme court warrant so far as I can tell -- as an attack on "democracy." That raises the question of what is democracy?"

&

"(O)ne needs to think hard about what means by democracy. In Honduras there is an attempt to make it mean "one person, one vote, for one man for life." The Honduras Supreme Court, its army, and its legislature have said that it must not mean that. Given the location of Honduras it's probably inevitable that the US take a stand on this. Which side should we be on? And should we choose that by national interest or by some kind of political principle? And if the latter, what is that principle? Is it that a majority may choose whatever it likes? If there are to be limits on what the majority may choose, what shall those limits be?"

JO - With travel to Cuba lifted, how will JA fare?

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer


With travel to Cuba lifted, how will JA fare?

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Dear Editor,


For sometime now I wondered what would be the strategy of the Jamaican government to protect its share of American tourists who visit the island now that America has reduced the restrictions on travel to Cuba from the USA.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Cuba, and not Jamaica, was the popular getaway for Americans headed for the Caribbean. Many rich Americans in particular had vacation or second homes in Cuba where their wealth made a lot of difference.
The fact that Cuba was off-limits to Americans for so long and is now open will make it very attractive to the American visitors, especially the millions of Cuban-American citizens."

&

"(H)ow will Jamaica maintain its market share in American tourist arrivals, now that the USA is lifting the embargo for USA citizens to travel to Cuba? Please let us hear from the minister of tourism and others on this matter."

_____



LA Bert Ramsay

Atlanta, USA

Florissano1@hotmail.com

LoveFM - SUPREME COURT ORDERS THAT CHINESE NATIONALS BE EXPELLED

From my archive of press clippings:

LoveFM

SUPREME COURT ORDERS THAT CHINESE NATIONALS BE EXPELLED

April 14, 2009

Acting Chief Justice Samuel Awich has made a ruling in the case of a group of illegal Chinese nationals.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The group, comprising seven men and one woman arrived in Belize two weeks ago without a travel visa. And because of the Supreme Court's ruling, they are tonight awaiting expulsion from the country."

&

"The plane that the group arrived on reportedly took off from Havana, Cuba, but it is unclear how they managed to get on the aircraft in the first place without a valid travel visa."

AO - Two Cubans and a Somalian seeking refugee status find favor with Supreme Court

Amandala Online


Two Cubans and a Somalian seeking refugee status find favor with Supreme Court


Posted: 07/05/2009 - 10:55 PM


Author: Rowland A. Parks

It is standard procedure for the Government of Belize to ship people back to their countries of origin once they arrive in Belize seeking some kind of refugee status. At the Kolbe-managed prison, there are a number of persons who are awaiting repatriation to their countries of origin. Although Belize has a refugee law and is a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention, the rights of persons seeking refugee status in Belize are at times overlooked.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"But today in the Supreme Court, Belize’s Refugee Law was upheld, when Justice Michelle Arana ruled in favor of human rights activist Antoinette Moore in a judicial review that she filed on behalf of two Cubans and a citizen of Somalia, who are seeking refugee status in Belize.

The two Cubans filed an application for a judicial review, challenging the Government of Belize’s policy in relation to their refugee interest. The Cubans, Pedro Garcia Carrera and Karelis de Los Angeles Sosa Sanchez, and the Somalian, Nur Abdi Shire, took the Attorney General, the Minister of National Security, and the Director of Immigration to court, asking the court to affirm their rights to seek refugee status in Belize.

In her judgment that was issued in the applicants’ favor, Justice Arana ruled that the petitioners have a right to a refugee hearing. But most importantly, while they are awaiting such a hearing, they will do so in protective custody outside the walls of the prison."

JG - The complex dance of engagement with Cuba

Stars and Stripes

The complex dance of engagement with Cuba

Published: Sunday May 10, 2009

David Jessop - THIS WEEK IN EUROPE

What will be the long-term impact of a changed economic relationship between Cuba and the United States on the Caribbean?

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"How might the region develop and its relationship change if the US were ever to restore full diplomatic relations with Havana?

These are questions that are beginning to be considered informally outside of the region in a quiet recognition that the mood in Washington towards Cuba has changed fundamentally and with it, most probably, the likely stance of Europe and other developed nations.

At and before the Summit of the Americas, US Pres-ident Barack Obama made clear that his administration's approach towards Cuba would be very different from that of all of his predecessors. "

&

"(I)t became clear that talks have begun to establish formal channels of communication, with the US Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Thomas Shannon, holding meetings with Jorge Bolanos, the very senior diplomat who heads the Cuban Interests Section in Washington."

_____

David Jessop is director of the Caribbean Council. Email: david.jessop@caribbean-council.org.

re: U.S. State Department fails to issue visa to Cuban Singer-Songwriter

U.S.-Cuba Cultural Exchange


U.S. State Department fails to issue visa to Cuban Singer-Songwriter

Rodíguez could not perform at Pete Seeger Birthday concert in NY


05.04.2009 – For Immediate Release

May 4, 2009

US-Cuba Cultural Exchange

uscce@cubaresearch.info

http://www.cubaresearch.info/uscubaculturalexchange

(505) 344-5049


U.S. State Department fails to issue visa to Silvio Rodríguez

The following is the text of an email from Silvio Rodríguez (English, then Spanish original), regarding the failure of the United States State Department to issue him an entry visa.

Read the whole press release here.

7NB - Illegal Chinese Nationals from Cuba Still Here

From my archive of press clippings:

7 News Belize

Illegal Chinese Nationals from Cuba Still Here

posted (April 8, 2009)


Another Wednesday has come and gone and with it, another flight from Cuba, and guess what?....The nine Chinese who came into Belize without a visa are still here!

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The explanation this time around is that Cuba won’t take them back with defective passports. Their passports are each missing a page – the same page that had their fake Belizean visa, and the same page they ripped out between Cuba and Belize, so that they wouldn’t be caught with a fake visa, because, obviously in this topsy turvy town, it’s better to have no visa than a fake one!"

7NB - The Chinese 9 Still in Belize

7 News Belize

The Chinese 9 Still in Belize

Thu, April 2, 2009

Exactly one week ago, we told you about the 9 Chinese who flew into Belize from Cuba without a visa. They never should have been allowed on the plane...but they were; and when they got here, they should have been sent back immediately, but they weren’t. A series of curious slip-ups and now there’s one more. As we reported, the eight men and one woman were remanded to prison for a week on the assurance that they would be sent right back to Cuba when the flight returned yesterday. But, again, they weren’t.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"It might not seem so odd to the outsider, but those with experience in how these things work, say that kind of slippage has been typical – as the illegals are often kept lurking in the system until attention subsides and some conspicuous oversight or deliberately corrupt act, allows them to slip out of custody or get out on bail, and then they’re off, headed north. And something’s definitely up with this group as now the story is that they had visas when they boarded the plane in Cuba – mind you, they were fake ones - but tore them out of their passports once they got on the plane."

JG - Castro absolved by history ... almost

Jamaica Gleaner

Castro absolved by history ... almost


Published: Sunday January 11, 2009


Robert Buddan POLITICS OF OUR TIME


In 1953, Fidel Castro and his comrades-in-arms failed to overthrow the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. They were arrested and brought to court. Fidel, a lawyer, provided his own defence and that of his comrades. He spoke for four hours. He then composed his speech and had it published under the title, 'History will absolve me'. Fidel's revolution did eventually succeed on January 1, 1959, at the second attempt.

Read the whole article here.

JG - Jamaica, Cuba and the Caribbean's voice

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

Jamaica, Cuba and the Caribbean's voice

published: Sunday May 18, 2008

Robert Buddan -POLITICS OF OUR TIME

Bruce Golding's visit to Cuba last week signifies two things. The realities of the world order have made redundant the old idea that 'the west' or the United States can be the centre of our foreign policy as the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) thought it should be in the 1960s and 1980s. The People's National Party (PNP) had never believed it and courted 'the South', including Cuba, in the 1970s, the 1990s and beyond. Right up to the September elections, supporters of the JLP were still naively of the old view. But the crises of oil, trade and food have kept the JLP doing business with Venezuela, Cuba and China and remaining steadfast in CARICOM, even calling on Guyana to help with rice production.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The other signal is this: Jamaica and Cuba can entertain relations on a bilateral level to meet specific needs, such as in agriculture, water, housing, tourism and health. But at the same time, they can engage in a more global vision of change in the world order."

"Golding has promised President Raul Castro that he will use Jamaica's influence to improve relations between Cuba and the United States.

This is not likely to help much. Golding has little, if any, influence over Bush.

What is more, with four Jamaican Members of Parliament on the government's side holding American citizenship and another having Venezuelan citizenship, the Jamaican government could be seriously compromised considering the aggressive actions being taken against American citizens who violate the Cuban embargo and whose allegiance is sworn to the United States."

&

"US policy towards Cuba was not an irrelevant hangover of the Cold War but a clash of two world orders.

There is the current world order that the United States supports and a different vision of a world order that Cuba supports, one costly to the United States."

JG - Cuban possibilities, obstacles

Jamaica Gleaner

Cuban possibilities, obstacles

Published: Sunday January 4, 2009

Jorge Heine, Contributor

Latin America and the Caribbean will not be at the top of Barack Obama's priorities when he takes office on January 20. But there is little doubt that, as far as the Inter-American agenda is concerned, Cuba will be a foremost concern.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Making a breakthrough on Cuba has always been difficult. Oftentimes the Cuban government has been its own worst enemy. It is not for nothing that ten United States presidents in a row have failed to do so."

JO - Eyeing the Obama/Castro meeting

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Eyeing the Obama/Castro meeting

Ricky Singh

Monday, May 12, 2008

As President George W Bush was hurling his latest political insult at Cuba last week, it was becoming increasingly evident that Barack Obama is not only set to emerge in November as the first Black American president, but become the first US head of state to meet with President Raul Castro, brother of the retired legendary Fidel Castro.

Read the whole article here.

Snippets(s):

"With the seismic shift in presidential electoral politics occurring in the USA, the small Caribbean nation of Cuba 90 miles away from the world's sole superpower, appears destined to have a different kind of confirmation of Fidel Castro's memorable prophesy that "history will absolve me", in the revolution he set on course back in 1959 and when, finally, the mighty USA ceases to blind itself to the Cuban reality in this first decade of the 21st century. Do not expect miracles following an expected meeting of Obama as president with Raul Castro, whether in Havana or Washington, once the young charismatic senator from Illinois becomes the new tenant in The White House in January 2009."

&

"(T)he world is quite familiar with the fundamental difference in the governance systems in the USA and Cuba. Also with the reality of Bush's own policies that account for the gross human rights violations of political prisoners by America at Guantanamo.

Nor should it be forgotten how George Bush was defeated by Al Gore with more than half a million popular votes at the 2000 election, but ended up being president by a single casting vote of then US chief justice William Rehnquist to halt a recount of the votes in Florida. Those who advocate free and fair election, to which all Caricom states correctly subscribe, must not ignore how George Walker Bush became president of the USA."

One myth per paragraph here. For some reason it's making me thirsty for Kool-Aid.