For­mer for­eign and Cari­com af­fairs min­is­ter Dr Amery Browne is call­ing on the Gov­ern­ment to ex­plain Trinidad and To­ba­go’s de­ci­sion to ab­stain from a Unit­ed Na­tions Gen­er­al As­sem­bly (UN­GA) vote call­ing for an end to the Unit­ed States’ eco­nom­ic em­bar­go on Cu­ba.

Speak­ing at an Op­po­si­tion me­dia brief­ing yes­ter­day, Dr Browne said the de­ci­sion marks a sig­nif­i­cant de­par­ture from T&T’s long-stand­ing for­eign pol­i­cy po­si­tion, not­ing that suc­ces­sive ad­min­is­tra­tions have sup­port­ed UN res­o­lu­tions against the em­bar­go since 1992.

Dr Browne ques­tioned what man­date the Gov­ern­ment had to adopt this new po­si­tion and whether cit­i­zens were con­sult­ed be­fore the change.