By AFP
March 26, 2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness - Copyright AFP Juliette PAVY
Shaun TANDON
Jamaica on Wednesday rebuffed a push by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to sever a program that brings in Cuban doctors, who have become critical to health care in fellow Caribbean countries despite allegations of labor exploitation.
Donald Trump’s top diplomat held talks on the sidelines of a Caribbean summit aimed in part at finding new ideas on violence-ravaged Haiti, with host Jamaica saying it would help the new US administration in a “global war on gangs.”
But Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness made clear his differences with Rubio on the doctors, who are sent by Cuba around the world and have become a major source of revenue for the cash-strapped government.
Rubio, a Cuban-American and vociferous foe of the communist government in Havana, announced last month that the Trump administration would bar visas for foreign government officials who assist the program, which he characterized as human trafficking.
“Let us be clear, the Cuban doctors in Jamaica have been incredibly helpful to us,” Holness said at a joint news conference with Rubio.
He said that the 400 Cuban doctors in the country filled a deficit as Jamaican health workers emigrated.
“We are, however, very careful not to exploit the Cuban doctors who are here. We ensure that they are treated within our labor laws and benefit like any other worker,” Holness said.
“So any characterization of the program by others certainly would not be applicable to Jamaica.”
Rubio promised to engage with Jamaica to have a “better understanding” of how it treats Cuban doctors.
“Perhaps none of this applies in the way it’s handled here,” Rubio said.
But Rubio said the United States remained opposed “in general” to the program.
“The regime does not pay these doctors, takes away their passports and basically, it is, in many ways, forced labor, and that we cannot be in support of,” Rubio said.
The US special envoy on Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Caron, has also credited Barbados with taking steps to pay Cuban directors directly.
Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne earlier this month sharply denounced the US pressure, saying the absence of Cuban doctors would “literally dismantle our healthcare services and put our people at risk.”
According to Cuban official figures, Cuba sent 22,632 medical professionals to 57 countries in 2023, with Cuba earning $6.3 billion in 2018 and $3.9 billion in 2020, in part in the form of oil from Venezuela.
– ‘Global war on gangs’ –
Rubio’s trip comes as he considers a new strategy on Haiti, the hemisphere’s poorest country, which has been plunged into chaos for years after government authority collapsed and armed groups took over.
A Kenyan-led mission supported by former US president Joe Biden has deployed to Haiti in hopes of bringing stability, but the troop numbers have come up short and violence has resumed.
Holness said the United States has been an “incredible partner” on Haiti but that the priority should be on a “significant expansion in resources” to Haiti’s fledgling national police so it can take on gangs.
“The present holding situation that we have, it’s not necessarily moving the situation forward,” he said.
Holness said he spoke with Rubio about “a global war on gangs, and there is already significant policy alignment” between Jamaica and the Trump administration.
Rubio has issued a waiver to Trump’s sweeping cuts to aid to back the Haiti mission. He also announced that the United States would provide assistance to Jamaica to combat gangs, including software.
Rubio said that the support to Jamaica “highlights exactly what our vision for aid moving forward is.”
“The United States is not getting out of the aid business,” he said.
But instead of funding non-governmental groups, Rubio said, “We want to provide foreign aid in a way that is strategically aligned with our foreign policy priorities.”
Rubio offers US security for oil-rich Guyana as Venezuela looms
By AFP
March 27, 2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness in Kingston on March 26, 2025 - Copyright POOL/AFP Nathan Howard
Shaun TANDON
Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads Thursday to Guyana to offer to put the newly oil-rich nation under the US security umbrella as neighboring Venezuela asserts claims.
A decade after the discovery of vast reserves, the small South American nation is poised this year to become the world’s largest producer of oil on a per capita basis, outpacing Qatar and Kuwait.
With tensions on the rise between Guyana and US nemesis Venezuela, Rubio will sign a memorandum of understanding that outlines security cooperation, according to the State Department.
Rubio, who is flying to Guyana after talks with Caribbean nations in Jamaica, will also stop later Thursday in Guyana’s neighbor Suriname, whose own oil production is on the rise.
President Donald Trump’s administration said it envisioned a relationship with Guyana akin to those with oil-rich Gulf Arab nations, which welcome US troops for their security, particularly against larger neighbor Iran.
“The security of Guyana is a key priority for us in the same way that we have been working with countries in the Gulf states to ensure the security cooperation from the regional threats there,” said Mauricio Claver-Carone, the US special envoy on Latin America.
“We’ve seen the threats from Venezuela,” he told reporters ahead of the trip.
“Obviously, that’s unacceptable and we want to work together,” he said, to “find an agreement towards binding security cooperation.”
Guyana, an English-speaking former British and Dutch colony where the majority of the 800,000 people still live in poverty, has for years had a long-shot movement that has sought to join the United States.
Such formal accession is not expected to be discussed, but Trump has made no secrets of his passion for expansionism in the hemisphere, even at the expense of traditional alliances.
Trump has vowed to take control of Greenland from Denmark, with Vice President JD Vance paying a visit Friday criticized by NATO ally Denmark, and has insisted that the United States will “take back” the Panama Canal.
– Rising oil, rising tensions –
Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, who faces reelection this year, has embraced closer defense cooperation with the United States, including through joint maritime patrols.
Venezuela, whose leftist leader Nicolas Maduro is despised by the Cuban-American Rubio, has laid claim to Guyana’s Essequibo, which covers most of the country and is the center of oil production.
Guyana earlier in March denounced what it called a Venezuelan military vessel’s incursion into its waters.
Venezuela denied any violation and requested a meeting with Ali, who dismissed the offer.
The parliament in Caracas last year approved a bill to declare Essequibo as Venezuela’s 24th state, a move rejected internationally.
Guyana insists the border was finalized by an 1899 arbitration panel, but Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region’s east as a natural border recognized as far back as 1777.
The Trump administration has put a high priority on ramping up oil production, seeing both economic and security incentives, and has brushed aside the push by previous president Joe Biden to diversify to renewables to address the planet’s fast-rising temperatures and climate disasters.
Texas-based ExxonMobil has taken the lead in oil production in Guyana which has rapidly scaled up over the past five years.
ExxonMobil anticipates gross production from Guyana of 1.3 million barrels a day by the end of the decade, dwarfing current output from Venezuela, whose industry has slumped since the 1990s after mismanagement and US sanctions.
The Trump administration, under pressure from anti-communist Latino lawmakers, has canceled US oil major Chevron’s exemption from US sanctions to operate in Venezuela.
By AFP
March 27, 2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness in Kingston on March 26, 2025 - Copyright POOL/AFP Nathan Howard
Shaun TANDON
Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads Thursday to Guyana to offer to put the newly oil-rich nation under the US security umbrella as neighboring Venezuela asserts claims.
A decade after the discovery of vast reserves, the small South American nation is poised this year to become the world’s largest producer of oil on a per capita basis, outpacing Qatar and Kuwait.
With tensions on the rise between Guyana and US nemesis Venezuela, Rubio will sign a memorandum of understanding that outlines security cooperation, according to the State Department.
Rubio, who is flying to Guyana after talks with Caribbean nations in Jamaica, will also stop later Thursday in Guyana’s neighbor Suriname, whose own oil production is on the rise.
President Donald Trump’s administration said it envisioned a relationship with Guyana akin to those with oil-rich Gulf Arab nations, which welcome US troops for their security, particularly against larger neighbor Iran.
“The security of Guyana is a key priority for us in the same way that we have been working with countries in the Gulf states to ensure the security cooperation from the regional threats there,” said Mauricio Claver-Carone, the US special envoy on Latin America.
“We’ve seen the threats from Venezuela,” he told reporters ahead of the trip.
“Obviously, that’s unacceptable and we want to work together,” he said, to “find an agreement towards binding security cooperation.”
Guyana, an English-speaking former British and Dutch colony where the majority of the 800,000 people still live in poverty, has for years had a long-shot movement that has sought to join the United States.
Such formal accession is not expected to be discussed, but Trump has made no secrets of his passion for expansionism in the hemisphere, even at the expense of traditional alliances.
Trump has vowed to take control of Greenland from Denmark, with Vice President JD Vance paying a visit Friday criticized by NATO ally Denmark, and has insisted that the United States will “take back” the Panama Canal.
– Rising oil, rising tensions –
Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, who faces reelection this year, has embraced closer defense cooperation with the United States, including through joint maritime patrols.
Venezuela, whose leftist leader Nicolas Maduro is despised by the Cuban-American Rubio, has laid claim to Guyana’s Essequibo, which covers most of the country and is the center of oil production.
Guyana earlier in March denounced what it called a Venezuelan military vessel’s incursion into its waters.
Venezuela denied any violation and requested a meeting with Ali, who dismissed the offer.
The parliament in Caracas last year approved a bill to declare Essequibo as Venezuela’s 24th state, a move rejected internationally.
Guyana insists the border was finalized by an 1899 arbitration panel, but Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region’s east as a natural border recognized as far back as 1777.
The Trump administration has put a high priority on ramping up oil production, seeing both economic and security incentives, and has brushed aside the push by previous president Joe Biden to diversify to renewables to address the planet’s fast-rising temperatures and climate disasters.
Texas-based ExxonMobil has taken the lead in oil production in Guyana which has rapidly scaled up over the past five years.
ExxonMobil anticipates gross production from Guyana of 1.3 million barrels a day by the end of the decade, dwarfing current output from Venezuela, whose industry has slumped since the 1990s after mismanagement and US sanctions.
The Trump administration, under pressure from anti-communist Latino lawmakers, has canceled US oil major Chevron’s exemption from US sanctions to operate in Venezuela.
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