Might cannot, must not be basis of right – Statement by SVG/Cuba Friendship Society

The St Vincent and the Grenadines/Cuba Friendship Society (SVGCFS) views with alarm the deteriorating climate in international relations which threatens world peace and propels it closer to the darkest days of the Cold War and global military confrontation.

In particular we note and condemn strongly the latest actions of the Trump administration in imposing further sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela. US Vice President Mike Pence last week announced sanctions on 34 ships, owned and operated by the state-run oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), as well as two additional companies which transport crude oil from Venezuela to Cuba.

These sanctions, which also apply to two firms, based in Greece and Liberia, are part of stepped-up efforts to undermine the economies of both Cuba and Venezuela. Worryingly these actions not only relate to differences between the USA and these two countries but also aim to pressure independent countries not to trade with countries with which the US does not agree. It is a blatant attempt to substitute might for right in international relations.

We believe that might cannot and must not be the substitute for right in international relations. The USA is free to trade with whomever it chooses, and that must also be the right of all independent nations, irrespective of size or wealth. No one country has the right to seize the assets of another, nor to deny third countries the right to enter into relations with whichever countries they might choose.

The SVG/Cuba Friendship Society also condemns the announcement by the Trump administration that it is cancelling an agreement between the Major League Baseball association of the USA and the Cuban Baseball Federation which would allow Cuban baseball players, considered some of the best in the world, to play professional baseball in the USA without having to defect from their country of birth.

It is a retrograde step which not only further contaminates US-Cuba relations but hurts the players, their families and baseball fans in the USA.

Renwick Rose
(for SVGCFS)