This week, the government of Antigua under the administration of Gaston Browne, has terminated its medical relationship with Cuba which it has maintained for many years, according to media reports out of Antigua.
The policy shift was an abrupt one considering that the Browne administration spent the year vowing to protect its relationship with Cuba amidst increasing pressure from the US government.
Browne had gone as far as saying that the Cuban medical officers were the core of the Antiguan medical service and that their removal would devastate their health services. He had also refuted the claims levied by the US that the program was a cover for human trafficking.
Despite his earlier, seemingly adamant stance, his administration suddenly terminated the relationship in December with no public explanation provided. The news itself was broken by the opposition party (United Progressive Party) UPP in a statement to the media.
In that release the UPP stated:
“It is unfortunate that the mutually beneficial partnership our two countries forged has been ended so abruptly by the sitting Administration; but we assure the Government and People of Cuba that the United Progressive Party is neither ungrateful nor forgetful.”
Throughout 2025, the Trump administration under the lead of Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been mounting pressure on several Caribbean nations in an attempt to secure their political interests in the region.
Rubio has in particular been focused on ending the Cuban Medical programs or in other cases forcing the end of payments from Cuba to doctors in favour of direct payments from local governments.
With both Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda having been slapped just this week with US Visa restrictions, the question remains what else the US might use to leverage their policy in the region and what concessions are our governments willing to make given this mounting pressure?
The Little Brown Boy doesn’t mind throwing a most reliable, charitable, helpful al!y under the train to ingratiate himself in the arms of the Donald.
Not a public word of gratitude from the Brownie to the Cubans for the many decades of free education (doctors, dentists, nurses, engineers), assistance with the Civic 19 pandemic, agriculture. How can anyone be so ungrateful!
INGRATITUDE is treason to mankind.
HA!
You are the last person that should be saying ingratitude is treason to mankind – a hyperbolic statement to say the least.
You have shown in gratitude to the point of being abusive to those who disagree with you. Only changing your tactic for a moment to make an impression or attempt to ingratiate yourself to someone.
With that said, this is cowardly behavior/execution from the PM of Antigua. But its a complex situation where he doesn’t have the power to fight the US, I’m not ascribing Browne this virtue: but sometimes humility means admitting you don’t have the power to fight in a given moment lest you draw others that depend on you into a fruitless and ultimately destructive situation.
This Caribbean born intellect and critical thinker put it well the situation we find ourselves: https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/homepage-carousel/op-ed-are-we-in-a-new-cold-war-a-caricom-perspective/
Looking forward to the day when Cuba will be free. Hopefully The Donald can make that happen before he leaves the White House. But first Venezuela.
Ok house negro, for a start, Cuba doesn’t have oil or anything that Trump would want to further enrich himself. What make you think he gives a rats a**e about ordinary Cubans. First thing he did in his second term was deporting Cubans and Venezuelans in large numbers. The same people that were previously encouraged to turn their backs on their country and migrate to America for a brighter future. So stop acting like a fool in thinking that despot Trump cares about anyone else but himself. Trump murders ordinary people in fishing boats in Caribbean waters. He conducts high sea piracy by seizing Venezuelan oil tankers in order to sell himself and benefit from the riches. Even the GOP House speaker recently admitted that Trump will be impeached after the half term elections when the Dems take control of both the house and the senate. He cannot hide the evidence implicating him with Epstein evil child abuse ring for ever. So brace yourself for the fall out. Trump admirer.
Question: would it not be better to publish the official communique from the government as opposed to publishing the opposition party’s report which is bereft of details?
ADMIN: The article does say that there was no public communication by the government (at the time of the article) and it was the opposition party that broke the news.