Are the islands of Antigua-Barbuda in bed with Venezuelan nutjob Hugo Chavez? Well, it seems like the opposition Antigua Labour Party said it is distressed at what it called the government’s hoodwinking of the disabled community in Antigua and Barbuda and accepting funds from Venezuela. The ALP said that the Baldwin Spencer regime is basing a program to help disabled residents on a hand-out from the Chavez government.
The ALP also drew attention to a statement from Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer that help to the disabled in a fulfillment of his party’s promise at the last general election. The ALP asked, “Does this mean that if Spencer had not received this money from Venezuela, he would not have fulfilled his promise?”
ALP political leader, Lester Bird, said, “This program, like all the other programs the UPP regime is now hustling to do, is another election gimmick that will not be sustained. It is a desperate attempt by a desperate political party to buy votes with money donated to the government.” Source: Caribbean Net News
I did some research and discovered that the Government Treasury collected $1 billion in taxes, so why couldn’t funds from that be used to fund the program? It seems that Hugo Chavez is trying to get his tentacles stuck in some of the Caribbean islands and that is a shame. I would think that the last thing a prime minister or president want is to be portrayed as a buddy of Hugo Chavez. At least in America’s eyes. As someone from the Caribbean, I remember when I was a child that former Prime Minister Michael Manley had developed a relationship with Cuba’s Fidel Castro and it made a lot of Jamaican very uncomfortable because of what Castro stood for and the mistrust of the communist ideology.
Filed under: Antigua-Barbuda, Communism, Donation, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Jamaica, PM Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister Michael Manley, Venezuela
Black Political Thought 