Statement by PJ Patterson in response to the minister of foreign affairs on Jamaica’s abstention at the United Nations.

No sophistry can render defensible that which is indefensible; nor can a feeble reply lessen the shame resulting from an ill-conceived and unprecedented abstention at the General Assembly last week.

Senator Kamina Johnson Smith’s attempt, so incongruously crafted, exposes even more plainly than before the absence of any reason or justification for Jamaica’s abhorrent abstention at the United Nations. Her bizarre reply is also more notable for what it leaves unanswered. She has yet to explain how this violent shift better serves Jamaica’s interest or what steps we have taken since St Kitts to permit meaningful dialogue.

THE GOVERNMENT’S OWN WORDS

The minister insists that Jamaica has not changed its opposition to the unlawful embargo. The question answers itself: why would Jamaica not vote to end it? It must be expressed in a vote on the one day each year all the nations of the world are asked to decide: so our abstention cannot be accepted or justified. Our abstention cannot be explained by a lack of diplomatic experience and must therefore be perceived as abject surrender or sheer hypocrisy.

For as the minister herself concedes, Jamaica could have voted in favour while expressing reservations that the resolution ought to encompass a wider ambit. That admission settles the matter. Staying the course on the road of principles was open to our Government which chose not to take it.

The motion in Parliament was moved by the Government’s minister of state, who told the House why Jamaica could not support a unilaterally imposed blockade against Cuba. Its preamble mentions the United States embargo as a cause of Cuba’s suffering. Its third clause speaks of Cuba’s isolation “under the blockade”. Those are the Government’s words.

Within 24 hours that same Government would not vote to end the blockage it had condemned. Forthright honesty in Parliament cannot be shunned by the Executive thereafter in the discharge of Jamaica’s international positions and relationships. “Principles indeed guide policy” not statements that hoodwink Parliament as the precursor to desultory abstentions in New York.

THREE SEPARATE LIMBS – NO CONDITION PRECEDENT

The Motion in our Parliament contained three distinct limbs. They are not interlinked. Each hangs alone. Nothing in the motion makes any one of them a condition precedent for the rest. Nothing in it demands support of all three elements or none at all. Jamaica should have voted for the Resolution before the General Assembly as every Jamaican Government has done since 1992.

THIS IS ABOUT INTERNATIONAL LAW

The annual UN Assemblies which have repeatedly denounced the embargo do not entail pronouncements on political systems in Cuba’s domestic jurisdiction. It is not about economic ideology. It is about the egregious violation of international law. For a small nation, international law is the only shield we have. When we decline to defend it, we lower our own protection and shield.

A COMPROMISED AND WEAKENED VOICE

A devastating blow has now been delivered to Jamaican candidatures everywhere for seats on the councils of United Nations and influential committees for leadership of international bodies including the arenas of world sport where our athletes have carried our flag with such distinction. Those who once counted on Jamaica’s voice and word no longer know where we stand or what we stand for. The Government’s failure to support this resolution has irrevocably weakened Jamaica’s force. Once upon a time, Jamaica led the pack, today we are spectators to our own diminishment.

WHY I AM MOVED

The minister says my statement relies heavily on emotion. That I readily admit, but that does not render invalid the facts on which I rely. How can I not be emotional when Jamaica’s foreign policy drifts from the entrenched principles, steadfastly pursued despite changes in political Administrations over six decades, against injustice anywhere, are being abandoned. Have we lost our moral compass? I pray we will recover from this nadir in our nation’s proud history and soon.

But there are other reasons [for] which I am so disturbed — the length and depth of my involvement from being present at the historic decision in December 1972 and my immense gratitude for what Cuba has done for the Caribbean region without ever asking for anything in return.

When a neighbour who has given so much to liberation and human dignity is being strangled, and my country looks away, yes, I am perturbed and humiliated. Every Jamaican who knows our history should also be, and I daresay, most are.

My emotion is also grounded on the basis of profound respect for international law and not being prepared to cower in silence or jettison principle for any inducement or fear.

How can we forget or disregard what Cuba has done for Africa in the liberation struggle and the fight against apartheid?

I am driven to be emotional rather than remain mute when Jamaica fails to be counted among the nations which unequivocally denounce in the global arena a pernicious embargo aimed to starve Cuba into meek submission or extinction.

Thank Heavens for the seven magnificent Caricom nations that were prepared to stand up and be counted for international law to prevail.

Bob Marley and Peter Tosh gave the world an anthem of universal appeal “Get Up, Stand Up, Stand Up for your right”. It was never a call to abstain. Jamaica must stand again and keep standing until the fight for peace and justice is finally won.

PJ Patterson served as Jamaica’s sixth prime minister from 1992 to 2006.