Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has said the embarrassment caused by the People's Partnership Government's decision to host the Cuba-Caricom Summit at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre-a United States asset in T&T-could have been avoided. The Government was forced to shift today's conference from the Hilton to the National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port-of-Spain (NAPA) because of the existing US trade embargo on communist Cuba. Rowley was questioned on the issue at his Charles Street, Port-of-Spain, office, yesterday. He said "better foreign affairs savvy was required" to ensure such developments did not take place in T&T. Rowley said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to be ahead of the game.
He said while T&T did not agree with the embargo, the country knew it existed. He said the Government should not have scheduled the conference for that venue in the first place. Meanwhile, Rowley welcomed the hosting of the conference. He said the Caribbean island was moving towards a market economy "and from that standpoint, we should have tremendous interest in Cuba." He added: "Everything and anything we can do for and with Cuba should be in our interest." Asked if closer ties with Cuba would negatively affect T&T's relations with the United States, Rowley said he didn't think so.
He said the US "knows that T&T was an independent country, we respect and treasure our relations with the United States, but we have always maintained that Cuba is a Caribbean country and while we don't support its excesses, we always maintain that Cuba is an integral part of the Caribbean's future." He said the United States was "way behind time for trying to punish Cuba for being a communist country, while communist China owns the American treasury." Several Caricom leaders, including Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Cuban President Raul Castro, are expected to attend today's conference, which is aimed at developing closer economic ties between Cuba and Caricom member states.