Latin America·Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago breaks Caribbean ranks to back the U.S. embargo on Cuba at the UN
PORT OF SPAIN —
Depth
Dig five layers into this story — from what happened to the full picture.
L1What happened
At a Divali with the Diplomats function Thursday night, Persad-Bissessar said: “we cannot want to live in light at home and remain silent when others live in the shadows of oppression and exploitation,” and “we cannot stand by and do nothing or say nothing to support a military dictatorship in Cuba. They’re our neighbors, they’re our friends.”
L2Who’s affected
Cubans, whom Ambassador Gustavo Veliz described as facing electricity shortages. In Wednesday’s vote, Jamaica, Haiti and Guyana abstained; the Bahamas, Belize, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis and Suriname voted in favour; Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and St. Lucia were absent.
L3Why it’s quiet
Analysis · OVERLOOKED The UN Cuba vote is an annual ritual U.S. media rarely cover, and the Caribbean angle was reported mainly by the regional wire CMC.
L4Deeper impact
Veliz denounced “extraordinary diplomatic pressure exerted by the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations” and “the unjustifiable energy siege imposed on Cuba.” David Denny, president of the Barbados Cuba Friendship Association, condemned Trinidad and Tobago and the abstainers: “To vote against and to abstain is to betray.”
L5Full context
Veliz recalled that in 1972 Trinidad and Tobago was one of the first four countries to formally establish diplomatic relations with Cuba. Last year the resolution won 165 votes, with seven against and 12 abstentions.
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Original reporting
This is an OVERLOOKED summary of the reporting above. Facts and figures come from the linked sources. Everything here is a fact unless it is labelled otherwise. Support this work.
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