Browne and Golding accuse US of bullying Caribbean nations over visa bonds and deportees
Antigua and Barbuda has asked Washington to review a mandatory visa bond of up to $20,000, as the two sides remain at odds over deportee numbers.
ST JOHN'S, Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne and former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding have openly accused the United States of bullying the Caribbean into accepting American foreign policy directives.
In separate remarks at the weekend, both said they were puzzled why a region among the friendliest to the US was being punished.
Visa bond
Last week the State Department republished a list of countries whose nationals must lodge a bond of up to $20,000 when applying for limited tourist visas. The measure makes the bond permanent and mandatory for Antigua, Dominica and Grenada, as well as Cuba.
Browne has written to President Donald Trump asking for a review, and a diplomatic note has been sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio seeking an explanation for Antigua and Barbuda's inclusion.
"The government's objective is not confrontation," Browne said. "We believe the time is now right for a review."
Dispute over deportees
Antigua and the US also remain at odds over non-national deportees. The cabinet will accept no more than 10 people a year who are healthy, have no criminal records and whose boarding, lodging and medical care are paid for by the US. Washington wants to send up to 120 a year, a number Browne has said would amount to political suicide in a nation of 103,000.
"Stand firm against the evil, discriminatory, and bullying practices of the powerful," Browne told citizens. "Do not fear. Do not despair."
Golding: 'an angry lion'
Speaking in Philadelphia, Golding said Caribbean governments took a cautious approach because "they understand the pickle they are in".
"Make a wrong move, defiantly defend the Cuban (medical) assistance programmes and our partnership with China, they pay a price," he said. "They understand how careful they have to be when their hand is in the mouth of an angry lion." He said he clung to the hope "that this will pass".
US officials, who first announced the bond late last year, linked it to concerns over the sale of citizenship to foreigners with alleged dubious backgrounds and to visa overstays. Officials in the three countries rejected the overstay claims and linked the bond to their reluctance to take large numbers of deportees and to back US policy on Venezuela.
