Johnson Smith defends Cuba vote, rejects Patterson’s ‘betrayal’ claim

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Kamina Johnson Smith has defended Jamaica’s decision to abstain from a United Nations vote calling for an end to the United States embargo against Cuba, rejecting former Prime Minister PJ Patterson’s description of the move as an “abominable betrayal”.

Patterson, in a statement on Saturday, condemned the Government’s decision, arguing that it represented a departure from Jamaica’s longstanding support for the annual resolution calling for an end to the US economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba.

“It was a day of shame for the land of Marcus Garvey, and a stain on the record of a nation which, before we had even raised our own flag, closed its ports to trade with apartheid South Africa,” Patterson said.