Peter Espeut | Carrying a big stick

I am sure that United States (US) Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not fly here from Washington, DC, to tell us that when he gets back home he will “re-evaluate the US travel advisory for Jamaica to reflect the current reality regarding crime”. He could have asked the US Ambassador to Jamaica, or the First Secretary, to inform us of that. Or he could have made a telephone call.

And Secretary of State Rubio did not take himself here to repeat his threat in person that if we didn’t send home the more than 400 Cuban doctors and nurses serving Jamaicans, he would cancel the US visas of PM Holness and Minister of Health Tufton, and their wives and children. In fact, he even said that the alleged exploitation of Cuban health workers he is concerned about might not be taking place in Jamaica. He would have been briefed on that long ago by US agents based in Jamaica who keep track of things like that.

No! US Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not come here to talk about Cuban doctors.

The Honourable Mr Rubio (sorry! I forget that the Republic threw away those trappings of feudalism centuries ago. Our “Road to Republic” does not go that far! Our politicians love imperial titles like “Most Honourable”, and “Your Worship”! Let me start again). US Secretary of State Rubio flew here because the US government – read President Trump – wants something, and he needed to make himself clear to PM Holness in person.

Remember that the mantra of President Donald Trump is to MAGA – “Make America Great Again”. And by “America” he means the US of A, not the many islands and nations of the Americas. He has no plans to make Jamaica great. He wants something from us that will MAGA, and exactly what that is was not disclosed at the press conference last Wednesday. His one-day visit has left us guessing and wondering what is going on!

‘BIG STICK’ APPROACH

It was US President Teddy Roosevelt that summed up the US approach to foreign diplomacy as “speak softly and carry a big stick”. The Trump administration likes the “big stick” approach, but they don’t much go in for the “speak softly” part. When the Trump government wants something, they are not shy to shout it from the mountain tops.

In order to MAGA they want to take away Greenland from Denmark, annex Canada so it becomes the 51st state of the USA, repossess the Panama Canal Zone, and turn Gaza into a tourist beachfront resort (the “mar” without the “lago”). The Trump administration has loudly threatened to impose tariffs on the products of long-time allies (Canada and the EU), those they tolerate (Mexico) and their sworn enemies (China and Venezuela). But not Putin’s Russia. And all in less than two months!

I thought Rubio spoke quite softly last Wednesday. Sup’m inna sup’m!

In an online media briefing last Tuesday about Secretary Rubio’s two-day Caribbean tour, US Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone declared that “Jamaica is probably our most like-minded partner in the Caribbean” (see the front-page story “A Great Ally” in last Wednesday’s Gleaner). What is the diplomat Sr Claver-Carone saying? That PM Holness is like Donald Trump?

Certainly he is saying that Donald Trump considers PM Holness to be on his side. (Remember PM Holness’ visit to Mar-a-Lago on March 22, 2019? Remember the meeting of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with selected Caribbean leaders in Jamaica in January 2020? PM Mia Mottley of Barbados described that meeting as an attempt to divide the regional bloc.)

US Secretary of State Rubio did not ask for a meeting with CARICOM. While in Jamaica he met separately with the leaders of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and Haiti. PM Holness has assisted Trump (from his first term) in this “”divide and rule” strategy, intended to MAGA.

LOOK GREAT AGAIN

We have a little general election coming up later this year. Who does Trump want to come out victorious? Do not rule out the possibility that one of the purposes of the visit to Jamaica by US Secretary of State Rubio was to make Andrew Holness look great again! That cannot be done with a phone call.

While Canada and the UK and France and the Ukraine tremble before the man wielding a big stick, Jamaica gets the USA to agree to reconsider lifting the travel advisory. Rubio was full of praise for how the Holness government has been able to reduce the murder rate. What is the message here?

What exactly did the US Secretary of State and Brogad talk about? Before the meeting US Special Envoy Claver-Carone advised that security issues would dominate the discussions. According to The Gleaner, he said that the talks present “a huge opportunity” for closer focus on commercial shipping lanes through Jamaica, his country’s maritime security and narcotics and arms trafficking.

At the press conference last Wednesday PM Holness said “We reaffirmed our commitment to enhancing cooperation in combating transnational crime, ensuring the collective safety of our citizens and neutrally secured borders. We discussed a global war on gangs, and there is already significant policy alignment with both countries in this regard.”

PM Holness noted that the US has been instrumental in supporting Jamaica’s efforts to bolster its marine-domain awareness and intelligence-surveillance capabilities, which are crucial in the fight against organised criminal networks.

This must be considered alongside the visit of PM Holness to Israel in 2017 where, we are told, discussions centred on Jamaica obtaining surveillance technology. “I can see all the potential for cooperation in a variety of fields that relate to economy, to security, to technology. This is something that we eagerly are interested in doing with you,” Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu remarked on that occasion.

There is a lot about Jamaica’s foreign policy that we do not know. Maybe we will be able to find out exactly what has been going on in a few months.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com