Dear Editor,

I would like to point out to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People’s National Party (PNP) that this period we are experiencing is a decisive moment in our history.

I do need to speak to Cuba’s contributions to the world, with specific references to medical assistance all over the globe — Italy in the pandemic and help provided to fight deadly diseases in Africa and the liberation of South Africa. Nearer to home leaders of some Caribbean countries expressed great appreciation for the work of Cuban doctors in general health and particularly in saving the eyesight of thousands. Cuba is and has been a great friend to the downtrodden.

What will US President Donald Trump do next? Do we have servant leaders or leaders who are interested in short-term interest? In addition to this Cuban issue, we need to hear from our leaders about what is happening in the global community and their implications for Jamaica?

Jamaica has had a long relationship with Cuba, prior to hosting a Jamaican immigrant community, Jamaicans fought in the first Cuban War of Independence. Cuba built several schools in Jamaica, GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport and Jose Marti Technical High School are two of such gifts. Many students have benefited Cuban scholarships, primarily in medicine, from the mid-1970s. It is so sad that many of these recipients are silent.

Cuba has been our friend. There are times, especially in the 1980s and 1990s when we abandoned our friend in times when that country needed our support.

I recall when the new JLP Government, led by Bruce Golding, took a high-level team and was most impressed with Cuban agriculture. Cuba has the least but gives the most, and it is time that we make a stand and take the high road of principle and reject Trump’s demand.

I would like both the PNP and the JLP to know that many of the Jamaican people on both sides of the divide support Cuba, and they would like to see both the Government and Opposition take this high road of principle and defend the sovereignty of this country. This is a test that we as a country must pass.

What will Trump do next? What other binding demands will he make? The general election is coming, and this issue is on the table. There was a time when Jamaica was known as a country with strong moral leadership across the globe and in the region, but today we are mentioned in the global space only through track and field.

The servant leader will not think about an American visa, this matter is a return to the past, a revisit of colonialism. Are we still an independent country?

Louis EA Moyston, PhD

thearchives01@yahoo.com