00:00Principal Director of Caribbean Development Research Services and Political Analyst Peter
00:06Wickham tells the Morning Edition he is not surprised by Prime Minister Kamala Passat
00:11Bissessa's position on Cuba. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister voted against the UN General
00:17Assembly Resolution calling for an end to the US economic embargo on Cuba.
00:23She said what she said and she also said it in her characteristic style, calling our
00:27leaders to stop embarrassing themselves which was an ironic statement. It's clear to me that
00:33not only has your foreign policy changed but it's also clear to me that Prime Minister Kamala
00:39Passat Bissessa has not learned anything from the relations with Venezuela because you would
00:43recall not too long ago the reason she was declared persona non grata from Venezuela initially before
00:50she was now declared persona grata related to the fact that she was very aggressive in her tone
00:56towards the regime. Wickham says the Prime Minister's position reflects an alignment with the Trump
01:02administration's approach to Cuba. I think that the shift is an unfortunate shift but again it's
01:10entirely not surprising considering the stance that she has been taken. Clearly she's carrying water for
01:15the Trump administration. The Prime Minister has argued that Trinidad and Tobago cannot support a political
01:21system it would not want for itself however Wickham tells us that position mixes up two separate issues
01:29Cuba's system of government and the right of its people to access basic necessities. He says that
01:37opposing the US embargo does not mean endorsing communism. I think that we are conflating issues
01:43by suggesting that by calling for the entering embargo by saying that if a person falls ill they
01:49have the right to a taxi that is filled with fuel or an ambulance is filled with fuel that can
01:54take
01:54them to the hospital. Basic human decency by saying that we would like that that to be available to the
02:00people of Cuba that we're saying that we want communism in Trinidad and Tobago. I don't understand
02:05where we get that logic. Nicole M Romany, TV6 News.
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