Go Lean…Caribbean

Go Lean Commentary

Welcome to the fight Mr. Browne; welcome to the struggle to elevate Caribbean society.

The publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean monitor the organizational developments of the Caribbean Community super-national organization. The Chairman position rotates among the Heads of Government for the 15 member-states. This year’s turn at the helm is Antigua & Barbuda; just in time after the June election of Gaston Browne as the new Prime Minister. This is a “baptism in fire” for Mr. Browne, as he is new in the leadership role for Antigua and also new for the CariCom. His latest regional salvo is a “shot across the bow” of American foreign policy, calling for the end of the US embargo on Cuba. See full article & VIDEO here:

 HAVANA, Cuba — Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda called on the United States president and congress to end its “senseless embargo of Cuba now.”

Browne was speaking at the opening ceremony of the fifth CARICOM-Cuba Summit in Havana, Cuba, on Monday. He said that CARICOM’s solidarity with Cuba was manifested by the region’s repeated calls “in every council in every part of the world” for an end to the embargo.

The CARICOM chairman also took the opportunity to express profound appreciation to the host for its role in the fight against Ebola disease.

“Cuban doctors, nurses and technicians have not only put their lives at risk to save lives in West Africa; they have saved lives around the world by helping to contain and control the spread of Ebola. They deserve our deep respect, our great gratitude and our enduring thanks,” he stated.

The prime minister noted that trade between the two sides had grown but was mindful of the challenges that existed for its expansion. He referred to the work being done on a protocol to widen the existing trade and development agreement and stated he had no doubt that a mutually satisfactory result would be achieved.

Browne said a practical machinery had to be established to expand trade and investment.

“Central to such machinery is effective and affordable transportation for the movement of goods and people between our countries. In this connection, I call on this summit meeting to place high priority on creating mechanisms to move goods, services and passengers throughout our countries. I am convinced that if Cuba and CARICOM countries can jointly build a transportation network, all our economies will benefit,” he added.
He pointed to the advantages particularly in the field of tourism that such a network could bring.

“If Cuba and CARICOM countries can establish the air transportation links and a network of collaboration between our hotels, multi-destination tourism — that offers the distinctiveness of our culturally-rich countries — could be a winner for all of us,” he said.

The CARICOM chairman suggested that CARICOM and Cuba share their knowledge and experience in sports, particular athletics.

He joked that “if we teach Cubans to play cricket, we might produce a Caribbean cricket team that would restore West Indian cricket to the heights it once majestically enjoyed.”
Browne said that areas for co-operation between CARICOM and Cuba existed at a broad level and it was up to “us to be creative and ingenious in the ways in which we bolster each other.”

“On matters such as climate change and global warming; on financial services and the dictates of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and development; on the marginalization of our concerns by the G20, we should be coordinating our positions and acting in unison. We may not be able to stand-up to them alone, but they cannot ignore us if we stand-up together,” the prime minister said.
Caribbean News Now – Regional News Source (Posted 12/11/2014) –
http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/headline-CARICOM-chair-calls-for-an-end-to-US-embargo-on-Cuba-23985.html

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VIDEO – Has the US-Cuba trade embargo reached the end of the road? – BBC News – http://youtu.be/SR8CPBO6C8Q

Published on May 20, 2014 – America’s long-standing trade embargo with Cuba is facing calls to be eased from an unlikely source. President Obama’s administration has relaxed some of its provisions but there are growing calls to lift it completely.

The “acting in unison” rallying cry from Mr. Browne aligns with the assertions of the Go Lean book, that the challenges the Caribbean face are too big for any one Caribbean member-state to tackle alone. Rather, shifting the responsibility to a region-wide, professionally-managed, deputized technocracy will result in greater production and greater accountability. This deputized agency is the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The Go Lean book is a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the CU.

Though this CU effort shares some similar goals, there is no association of the Go Lean publishers to the CariCom. Instead, the Go Lean movement is external to CariCom. In fact, the book assesses that most of CariCom executions have failed – Pages 92, 167, 255 – and proposes the CU as the next step of integration evolution for the Caribbean region.

In addition to the book, the publishers have previously addressed CariCom’s efforts and mis-firings in the following Go Lean blogs entries:

The foregoing article stressed the potential for Caribbean elevation with the imminent re-integration of Cuba. The CariCom Chairman’s urging for the US to end the trade embargo is a great start – just talk – but the actions associated with Cuba’s full integration are weighty. The Go Lean book describes the heavy-lifting associated with this quest.

This book, Go Lean… Caribbean, details the step-by-step roadmap for elevating the entire Caribbean, including Cuba, into a confederation of 30 member-states of the region into a “single market”. Thusly, the prime directives of the CU are pronounced in these statements:

• Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
• Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
• Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean book details the series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies designed to re-boot and integrate Cuba in to an optimized Caribbean brotherhood:

The foregoing news article and this commentary is not the first call for the re-instatement of Cuba – 55 years is long enough. In a recent blog about the Big 3 automakers of Detroit, reference was made to the expansion of auto assembly plants of General Motors and Ford Motors in global cities. Both companies now have installations in Vietnam, a country that fought a bloody unpopular war with the US 40 years ago; (65,000 American deaths). Cuba has never shed American blood, and yet their embargo persists – this defies logic. This is why these previous blogs posit that it is only a matter of (short) time for this change, and so the blogs/commentaries feature subjects on Cuba’s eventual integration into the Caribbean brotherhood. These are detailed here:

Many entities in the international community have heralded a normalization of Cuban-American relations; see foregoing VIDEO and Appendix below.

The book Go Lean … Caribbean recognizes the historicity of Cuba and the polarization of the Castro Brothers (Fidel & Raul). But now that the current President, Raul, has announced that he will retire/step-down in 2017, it is reasonable to expect that the long-awaited change is imminent for the Republic of Cuba.

The CU roadmap is especially inviting to the Cuban and Caribbean Diaspora; it presents a comprehensive plan (370 pages) for the contribution of their time, talents and treasuries in the repatriation to their homeland.