On March 22, Mr. Gavin Shorto severely criticised the PLP for what he calls ?breathtaking carelessness? with respect to the PLP?s widening associations with Cuba despite dire warnings by the retiring US Consul and an irate Cuban exile. Although Mr. Shorto conceded that it might be ?technically correct? that Bermuda ?has the right to do anything it wants with Cuba?, he insisted that Bermuda would be acting very reckless to ignore warnings from an official representative of our very powerful neighbour.

Mr. Shorto?s article raises very important questions concerning when a country should uphold the principles of democracy or bow to the dictates of short-term survival. The question of whether one should cut and run or stand and fight is one that has to be answered almost every day in our personal lives in one form or the other. Do you suffer silently when your boss addresses you with abusive language? Or do you tell her: ?Stop, I find your behaviour offensive??

In all human relationships, this choice must frequently be made and it is very seldom an easy one to make. The difficulty arises from the fact that human beings, who were created in God?s image, must make the choice on the basis of the relative importance we attach to survival as against principle. Let us concede at once that all animals, no matter how insignificant, respond to threatening situations in terms of their chances of survival. However, to date, no animal has been known to be motivated by principle.

Clearly, the need to uphold a principle can lead human beings to make decisions that seriously endanger their survival. If one is very religious, one would immediately concede that the foundation of Christianity is based on the principle ?Thou shall love the lord thy God unreservedly and thou shall love your neighbour as yourself?.

In case we forget, the principles of democracy have their roots in these simple Christian Golden Rules. These principles include: Liberty, which encompasses freedom of speech, expression and association; equality, which seeks to give everyone the same opportunity to pursue happiness; rule of law which defines the extent of individual liberty in relation to the rights of others; the constitution which defines the limits placed on the government in terms of the extent to which it can interfere with the rights of citizens in their pursuit of happiness. Viewed in this way, Bermuda has an obligation as a Christian state striving to create a viable democracy, to resist attempts by any power to undermine these basic principles.

Mr. Shorto certainly was conscious of the importance of these principles and gave voice to them by noting that Castro was a ruler who constantly denies the enjoyment of these basic rights to the people of Cuba. Mr. Shorto based his description of Mr. Castro?s wickedness on the claims of Cuban exiles and information from American intelligence agencies. Neither of these sources can claim to be unimpeachable. The Cuban exiles have an axe to grind and cannot be expected to see anything good about Castro?s government. The reliability of American intelligence agencies has been in serious doubt ever since they provided President Bush with the assurance that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

However, even if we accept the concerns of the Cuban exiles as valid, the fact remains that Cuba was the only nation that was prepared to challenge the apartheid regime of South Africa with armed intervention and built a modern Airport in Grenada to facilitate this objective. Supported by the States of the Eastern Caribbean, America took steps to remove the Cubans from Grenada and thereby halt the incursion of Cubans into South Africa, Still, an immediate result of the Cuban initiative was that America was forced to take a much stronger role in bringing about the dismantling of Apartheid.

The issue which led to the comments of the US Consul in Bermuda and the expression of strongly held outrage by a Cuban living in Florida is of first interest. This twin outburst was triggered by the suggestion that a flight originating in Spain would bring visitors to Cuba and from Cuba to Bermuda. The outcry was based on the damage such a flight would do to Bermuda/American relations. This action, more than any other, really seemed to upset the US Consul. Yet, to date, neither the Consul nor the irate Cuban exile has denounced Spain for sending the flight to Cuba in the first place.

Clearly, there are few who will agree that America has a right to threaten Bermuda simply ?because she can?. While it is true that America can take decisions that lead to unilateral action, the exercise of this power is not as unlimited as some people believe. We just saw the President of the United States attack the sovereign state of Iraq without the consent of the United Nations. That same American president is now finding that he made a serious mistake in thumbing his nose at a council of the world?s nations as well as by not following the internal rules and procedures that are fundamental to the preservation of its own vibrant democracy.

In the former case, France and Germany risked the wrath of the most powerful state existing today by refusing to support the unilateral decision of the American President to remove Saddam and disarm Iraq. In the latter case, the American people through its Congress and a free press are forcing the president to be account fully for his actions.

Bermuda deserves the respect of the United States Government because it is a state that is approaching full nationhood by being self-reliant, self-sufficient and as democratic as it is possible for a colony to be.

Our acquiescence with respect to arbitrary actions by any American president will encourage current and future presidents to behave in the same manner towards their own citizens. Hence, by resisting unjust and unfair decisions by any American President that impact upon Bermuda, we reduce the chances of a recurrence in the future.

We need to remember, with justified pride, that America cannot hurt us by withholding foreign aid; she can only hurt us by not allowing Americans to travel to Bermuda or to conduct business here.

Does anyone believe that the citizens of America would let their president punish a well run country that is not strengthening its democratic principles but who pays its own way?

Or do we believe that the many democratic nations of this world will stand by and allow the United States to crush this little Island for merely exercising rights that America and all other democratic states are pledged to uphold?

Bermuda must stand up to America not only for the maintenance of our own self-respect but also in order to help Americans preserve the strongest most viable democracy this world has ever seen.

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