Category Archives: Cuba

Caribbean, Cuba, General T&T, International, USA, Venezuela

Refugees aggravate T&T woes

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By Raffique Shah
November 21, 2018

Raffique ShahTrinidad and Tobago has found itself in an unenviable, as well as untenable, position of having to deal with hundreds of mostly Venezuelan and Cuban nationals who have entered this country, legally and illegally, then announcing themselves as refugees or seeking political asylum.

This situation is unenviable because we are the only English-speaking Caribbean island-state that faces an influx of Spanish-speaking refugees, in addition to Jamaicans and Nigerians who have overstayed their Immigration-approved time, and some Chinese, Syrians and Lebanese. Except for the fairly-prosperous Dominican Republic that shares the large island of Hispaniola with poverty-stricken Haiti, where nationals of the latter invade the former on foot, whence they face rigid deportation procedures, T&T is a unique magnet for illegal immigrants.
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Africa, Caribbean, Cuba, General T&T, International, South Africa

The Challenge of Ideology

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By Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe
December 11, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeNo one who has followed Caribbean history over the last century could miss Fidel’s important role in helping Caribbean people to access their condition. Fidel had his faults.

However, his achievements surpassed his shortcomings and that is the salient point.

Fidel was to the 20th century Caribbean what Toussaint was to the 18th and 19th centuries. CLR James noted: “Castro’s revolution is of the 20th century as much as Toussaint’s was of the 18th…West Indians became aware of themselves as a people in the Haitian Revolution.”
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Caribbean, Cuba, General T&T, International, Passed on

Castro: colossus of the Caribbean

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By Raffique Shah
November 28, 2016

Raffique ShahIN response to a request from one young reporter for me to comment on Fidel Castro after the legendary Cuban leader died last Friday, I blurted out: he was a colossus of the Caribbean who walked the world stage tall like a giant.

I don’t know if my one-sentence summary of the complex character that was Fidel was original, but I certainly think it was accurate. Never before in the history of the Caribbean had we seen a leader of his stature. And, like him or loathe him, the titans who straddled the world stage during his 50-year tenure at the helm of Cuba dared not ignore him, with many of them grudgingly respecting him.
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Barbados, Cuba, General T&T, International, Letters, Murder, USA

Remember the tragedy…and US double-standards

This monument was erected at Payne's Bay, Saint James, Barbados, to the memory of the people killed in the bombing
This monument was erected at Payne’s Bay, Saint James, Barbados, to the memory of the people killed in the 1976 Cuban airliner bombing

THE EDITOR: I just stay so and remembered something

The 6th of October this year marks the 40th anniversary of one of the worst atrocities that involved this country and so far as I know, justice for that has never properly been served.
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Cuba, General T&T, USA

New US-Cuba Rapprochement

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Dr. Kwame Nantambu
July 17, 2015

Dr. Kwame NantambuThe historic diplomatic reality that the Obama administration has decided to re-establish a US embassy presence in Havana, Cuba on 20th July, 2015, signals a new geopolitical policy of the United States toward Cuba, albeit “Charting a New Course on Cuba.”

Firstly, by this diplomatic policy decision the Obama administration is renouncing the geopolitical decision by then US President Dwight Eisenhower to severe diplomatic ties with Cuba on 3rd January, 1962.
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Cuba, General T&T, International, USA

Cuba and the USA: the long thaw begins

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By Raffique Shah
December 20, 2014

Raffique ShahI confess I was surprised when, last Wednesday, announcements from Washington and Havana confirmed that the United States and Cuba had agreed to restore diplomatic relations and work towards the normalisation of other relations, especially trade and travel between the two countries.

I did not think that President Barack Obama had the fortitude to dismantle a 50-plus-year anachronism that lingered as the last vestige of the Cold War that all but ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
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Africa, Caribbean, Cuba, General T&T, International, Media, USA

Ralph Maraj’s Myopia

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By Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe
October 22, 2014

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeRECENTLY, I had a lively debate with Ralph Maraj on Cuba and its successes on i95 FM Showdown programme. Mr Maraj insisted that nothing good could come out of Cuba because Cuba has failed as a socialist society and there is “no freedom in that country”. I tried to convince him that Cuba has emerged as a leader on the world stage in areas of health care and education and there is little crime to speak of in that country. He insisted that Cuba was worthy only of condemnation.
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Caribbean, CARICOM, Cuba, General T&T, International, People's Partnership, Politics

Blunder after Blunder

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By Raffique Shah
December 11, 2011

Raffique ShahFIVE weeks ago, in my column titled “Diplomatic Blunders”, I wrote, “…The US has the right to decide what countries it has relations with, so excluding Cuba as a trade or investment partner is not the issue. What is criminal is for the US to use its might to deny other countries, as well as all corporations, their right to have relations with Cuba…”

I was referring to America’s unjust trade embargo against Cuba, but also to the People’s Partnership Government’s seemingly confused foreign policy positions. Trinidad and Tobago had abstained at a UNESCO general meeting at which Palestine was granted full membership, with an overwhelming majority of nations voting in favour of the motion.
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Caribbean, CARICOM, Cuba, Editorial, General T&T, International, Politics, USA

Hilton’s Ban on Castro: An Affront to Our Sovereignty

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EDITORIAL
December 10, 2011

Trinidad and Tobago NewsThe U.S. has laws and regulations which prevent U.S. companies from doing business with Cuba unless they obtain a special licence from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. These laws extend to operations of U.S. companies in other countries as well. The United States Department of the Treasury refused to grant a licence to the Trinidad Hilton Hotel, which is managed by Hilton Worldwide, to host the CARICOM-Cuba summit which involved Cuban leader Raul Castro. This untenable affront to Trinidad and Tobago’s sovereignty reflects the continued tradition of U.S. imperialism in the Caribbean and our local leaders’ complicity in this abuse.
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Caribbean, CARICOM, Cuba, General T&T, Latin America, Media, Politics, USA

END ISOLATION OF CUBA

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IV CARICOM-Cuba Summit
Click here for more photos

By Clint Chan Tack
Friday, December 9 2011 – newsday.co.tt

CUBAN PRESIDENT Raul Castro yesterday slammed United States (US) President Barack Obama for failing to keep a commitment he made at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain in April 2009 to lift the 49-year-old embargo which the US placed on Cuba since 1962.
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