Antigua and Barbuda is not involved in any way in human trafficking as the new United States Administration has described the use of Cuban doctors and nurses in health systems across the Caribbean and Latin America.
Speaking on the Browne and Browne show on Saturday, Prime Minister Gaston Browne explained that Antigua and Barbuda, as a matter of policy, has always stayed away from getting involved in US policies regarding other countries but in areas where these policies affect the country, he will speak out.
“On the issue of their position on the Cuban doctors and nurses, that’s an area where we have to do some realignment to make sure we don’t end up in their cross-hairs. However, the US must understand that these Cuban medical personnel represent the core of our health care services within the Caribbean. We are not involved in any illegal activities, any human trafficking and we totally reject that notion that we are involved in any human trafficking,” PM Browne declared.
According to the prime minister the Cuban doctors, nurses and technicians are being paid and he suggested a willingness to review the payment mechanism as something ‘we can look at’. However, he expressed the view that the attitude of the US government in the matter is at ‘face value’, an over-reach.
“This extra-territorial positioning, articulation and threat; I don’t think that this is the route that we ought to go. I believe that CARICOM countries and US officials can have a discussion on how we can structure payments going forward. I don’t see the need for them to threaten us. We are sovereign countries and even though we are small and powerless they ought to respect our sovereignty. We are not trying to do anything to hurt our neighbour to the north; in fact, that is the most important relationship for practically all of CARICOM countries and we are inextricably linked in that we have the largest Caribbean diaspora in the United States,” he observed.
PM Browne reiterated that Antigua and Barbuda has no interest in any acrimony with the US, while at the same time, he suggests that the US should treat the Caribbean states with ‘some degree’ of respect rather that threatening the region over such a critical issue as the survival of their healthcare systems.
“If they were to take punitive action because of the presence of Cuban medical personnel in our healthcare systems, it would practically dismantle these systems across the region,” he emphasized.
