Dear Editor,
United States President Barack Obama has created history by becoming the first sitting President of the United States to visit Cuba since the 1959 revolution which brought Fidel Castro to power.
Relations between the United States and Cuba have been highly strained ever since and reached dangerous levels following the Bay of Pigs invasion and the so-called missile crisis which had perilously placed the United States and the then USSR on the verge of war.
Several countries in the hemisphere became victims of the Cold War including Guyana. The PPP, under the leadership of Dr Cheddi Jagan, was manipulated out of office by the CIA in 1964 out of fear that Dr Jagan wanted to establish a second Cuba in what was considered a US backyard. The PPP preceded the Communist Party of Cuba as the first leftist party to gain power through constitutional means in the 1953 elections, which it won by a landslide. That victory, however, was short-lived when the constitution was suspended by the British government after just six months of the PPP in power.
The fact that the President of the United States has now officially visited Cuba and, earlier, restored full diplomatic relations with Cuba can be seen as a vindication of the PPP and for that matter all those countries that supported the lifting of the economic blockade against Cuba. It is only a matter of time before the embargo will be lifted.
President Obama deserves full commendation for his courage to visit Cuba, especially at this time when presidential elections in the USA are just months away and when this visit could be exploited by the Republicans.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally
