‘An Abominable Betrayal’: Patterson blasts Jamaica’s abstention on Cuba

Former Prime Minister PJ Patterson has slammed the Holness administration’s decision to abstain from voting on the United Nations resolution calling for an end to the embargo against Cuba as “an abominable betrayal which history will never forget”.

The vote marked a shift in policy by Jamaica as historically the island has voted “yes” in favour of ending the United States economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba for over 30 years since the annual UN resolution began.

In a scathing rebuke of the decision by Jamaica, Patterson said “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.”