Jamaica encourages business ties with Cuba despite U.S. pressure

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Tue, Jun. 29, 2004

Jamaica encourages business ties with Cuba despite U.S. pressure

ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press


HAVANA - The Jamaican government said Tuesday it will continue to encourage business relations with Cuba, despite ongoing pressure by the United States to discourage investment by foreign companies in the communist nation.

Jamaica regards Cuba as a "close and valued neighbor" as well as a "member of the Caribbean family" and hopes to further strengthen the two countries' trade and economic links, Foreign Minister Keith Desmond Knight told reporters Tuesday during a two-day visit to Cuba.

The visit by Knight, who is also foreign trade minister, came two weeks after Jamaican hotel chain SuperClubs announced it pulled out of two Cuban resort properties after threats from the U.S. government that company executives would not be allowed into the United States.
(snip)

Despite the SuperClubs incident, a business representative of the Jamaican government also in Havana said he believed most private companies in Jamaica would resist any future U.S. pressure.

"One or two companies will feel intimidated, but the majority of businesses in Jamaica are disposed to doing business with Cuba," said Victor Salazar, the regional manager of Jamaica Promotions Corporation, a state agency.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/9041763.htm

[rednek_Liberal]

1. AKA..

HAVANA - The Jamaican government said Tuesday it will continue to encourage business relations with Cuba, trading Marijuana for Cigars and Rum.

[struggle4progress]

2. I don't know much about Cuban-Jamaican ties. Gotta link? eom

[Billy Burnett]

3. Ileana Ros Lehtinen (She Wolf) threatens Caribbean nations on our behalf

F*cking bitch.

http://www.poptel.org.uk/cuba-solidarity/CubaSi-Autumn/Jamaica.html

JAMAICA'S prime minister spoke out in August against an attempt by a Florida congresswoman to block the Caribbean community from inviting Cuba into its economic fold.

Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, who also is chairman of the Caribbean Community economic group, or Caricom, spoke at a midtown New York luncheon as the latest Caribbean leader expressing dismay about the actions of U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fl.

Almost two weeks ago, Ros-Lehtinen outraged a number of Caribbean ambassadors by inviting them to a breakfast, and then passing out a letter msaying legislation she introduced the night before would punish their countries if they engaged Cuba as an economic partner.

"My bill sort of captured the attention of those folks in the Caribbean islands," Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade, said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Miami.

While some Caribbean leaders already expressed their displeasure with the congresswoman, Caricom is still two days away from formally replying, Patterson said in speaking before a group of U.S.-based Caribbean journalists hosted by the National Minority Business Council.

Patterson said there are no policy differences between the United States and Caricom nations concerning democracy, human rights or economic stability.

But there is a difference in their approaches to Cuba; the United States has a long-standing economic embargo against Cuba while the Caricom nations have been talking with Fidel Castro for several months about having their fellow Caribbean nation join the trade bloc.

"Cuba is a Caribbean nation. It is part of the Western hemisphere. We did not make Cuba a Caribbean nation," Patterson said. "We as Caricom countries are determined ... to deal with Cuba."

But Ros-Lehtinen, who was born in Cuba, introduced legislation late on July 30 that would withdraw tariff agreements and withhold assistance other than humanitarian from any Caribbean nation that advocated, voted for or negotiated Cuba's entry into two Caribbean economic groups, Caricom and the Central American Common Market

[bemildred]

4. Ileana Ros Lehtinen doesn't seem too bright.

We are somewhat past the point where this sort of empty
threat is likely to do anything other than annoy people.
CARICOM had already told the US politely to Cheney off, as
have a growing number of Latin American countries. It is
time to stop the bullying and try to build cooperative relations
based on mutual respect, while that is still possible.

[Judi Lynn]

5. What a beast!

From the article:

Caricom could feel free to enroll Cuba, or if "Mussolini were still around, they would be free to invite him," the Florida congresswoman said, but "they certainly don't have to accept any U.S. taxpayer dollars."

"They should not invite a communist country like Cuba," she said. "It expresses their independence from the United States. I think that's what this does for a lot of these countries."
(snip)

She'd better enjoy her time spent in the Congress. As soon as that travel ban is dropped, and then the embargo, she's going to be up the crik, PERMANENTLY.

All her weapons will be lost to her with no way to keep resorting to her ancient threats, labels, character assassinations, etc. to keep her bleep in office. Her venom will lose its power once the US moves on and normalizes relations with Cuba, as it should have, and would have, in the 1980's, had Ronald Reagan not taken up space in the White House, and reversed Jimmy Carter's early steps with Cuba.