No such common ground exists

Mar 26, 2025 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Peeping Tom…

The President of Guyana’s response, regarding today’s planned talks with the United States Secretary of State, reflects a glaring inexperience when it comes to the issue of the Cuban medical brigades working in Guyana.

This is what President Ali was reported to have said on that issue: “I think it’s a great opportunity for us to expand on the magnitude of the human capital problem we have in the region, in the healthcare system itself; and to find common grounds with the U.S. Well, I’ve made it very clear our position to find common ground. And I don’t see this, I don’t see abandoning Cuba as part of this equation.”

President Ali’s intention to carve out “common ground” is not only naive but fundamentally flawed. And this is for the simple reason that no such common ground exists. The United States’ hostility toward Cuba is an entrenched, decades-old doctrine designed to systematically undermine the Cuban government. This has been the agenda in one form or another for 60 years, from the Bay of Pigs invasion to the embargo, from economic strangulation to political isolation.

Also, the presence of Cuban medical professionals in Guyana should not be framed as being about human capital or workforce shortages. It is about sovereignty. It is about Guyana’s sovereign right to decide with whom it engages in international cooperation, and it is about standing in solidarity with Cuba in the face of Washington’s imperialist coercion.

Unlike President Ali, leaders in Barbados, St. Vincent, and Trinidad and Tobago have demonstrated a clear-eyed understanding of what is at stake. They have not dressed up their stance in the language of appeasement or equivocation. When confronted with U.S. threats to revoke visas for government officials who engage with Cuba, these leaders have refused to budge. They have recognised that caving to such threats would not only betray Cuba, a steadfast ally to the region, but would also undermine their own nations’ sovereignty. They have made it known that their relationships with Cuba are a matter of principle, not mere convenience.

President Ali, by contrast, has hedged. His statement reeks of deference, as if he is carefully choosing his words to avoid upsetting the Americans. It is the language of someone trying to please both sides—a futile endeavour when one side is hellbent on domination.

His mention of a “human capital problem” reduces the entire debate to a mere staffing issue, as if the Cuban medical brigades exist simply to fill employment gaps in Guyana’s healthcare system. This framing is not only inadequate, but it plays directly into the American narrative that Cuba is somehow exploiting its doctors rather than engaging in a noble and longstanding act of international solidarity. It is regrettable, then, that the President of Guyana has chosen to water down the issue to a matter of supply and demand in the healthcare labour market, rather than defending Cuba as a partner that has stood with Guyana for decades.

If President Ali had any real political backbone, his response to the U.S. Secretary of State should be unequivocal: Guyana does not take dictation from Washington. Guyana will continue its cooperation with Cuba, and any threats from the U.S. regarding visas or diplomatic relations will not alter its position. Instead, what we got was a weak-kneed attempt at diplomatic balance.

This moment demands a firm, unapologetic assertion of Guyana’s right to conduct its foreign affairs without interference. Instead, we got an attempt to placate the United States while sidestepping the core of the matter: the unrelenting, cynical campaign by Washington to break Cuba’s resilience.

Let’s be clear: The U.S. does not view Cuban doctors in Guyana as a neutral issue. Washington sees them as an extension of Cuba’s influence, as proof that Havana is still able to build partnerships despite relentless sanctions and political pressure. The American objection to Cuba’s medical assistance program has nothing to do with genuine concerns for labour conditions or human rights—it is purely about eroding Cuba’s soft power. If Guyana’s President does not grasp this fundamental reality, he has no business leading a country that claims to value its sovereignty.

It is not too late for President Ali to correct course. He must make it clear today that Guyana will not yield to American threats, that Cuba is a sovereign nation with whom we will maintain relations on our own terms, and that Washington’s long-standing hostility towards Havana is not supported, as we have repeatedly said. If America does not like it, then America can lump it. The true test of leadership in this region is the ability to stand firm in the face of U.S. pressure, not to shrink and offer lukewarm platitudes about common ground where none exists.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

 

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