WE REJOICE with the 23 Jamaicans who have just returned from Cuba with the gift of sight restored. In a joint arrangement, the governments of Cuba and Venezuela have offered treatment to the visually-impaired and others free of cost to either the Jamaican government or the patient. The group of 23 persons who have had their sight restored in Cuba is the first batch under the 'Miracle Operation' programme. Today, Cuban ophthalmologists will be at the Kingston Public Hospital to assess patients for another cycle of the programme.
In the same spirit of generosity, both the Cuban and the Venezuelan governments have offered assistance to the United States in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane exposed to the entire world the under-belly of American poverty and its deficiencies in disaster response. Even the most powerful can use a helping hand from outside in the face of disaster. The governments of Venezuela and Cuba are pariahs in Washington and eight presidents have made the termination of the Castro regime a central plank of U.S. foreign policy.
Undoubtedly, both sides have made sharp political calculations over the offer of Katrina aid. In their battle with the mighty United States, friendship and solidarity with their Caribbean neighbours would obviously be of great advantage to Cuba and Venezuela. And friendship with these countries, now as in the past, could have diplomatic consequences in Jamaica-U.S. relationship.
Cuba has been ever willing to deploy its vast army of doctors and nurses from one of the best medical systems in the world to generously assist other countries in the region and further afield. Venezuela, with its oil wealth and current populist leader, has joined in this venture of offering assistance. President Chavez while here in Jamaica announced the joint medical assistance scheme with Cuba under which the first 23 people have benefited.
Since the 1970s, we have developed far greater maturity and diplomatic savvy in cultivating productive relationships with other states which may not themselves be in accord with each other. We can share strategic interests and alliances without sharing ideologies or endorsing the internal politics of other sovereign states. A sturdy 'Jamerican' relationship has endured from the time we were both colonies of Britain, despite numerous grounds of disagreement. And a robust Jamaican-Cuban relationship pre-dates the Castro revolution going far back into colonial times.
We commend the governments of Venezuela and Cuba for yet another generous gift to the people of Jamaica which has restored the sight of 23 fellow Jamaicans with more to follow. And as we welcome home from Cuba those now seeing again, the need to teach Spanish widely in the schools and from quite early could not be more emphasised than by the growing relationship with Venezuela and Cuba and other Latin American countries which are our closest neighbours.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
