A MOVING, analytical, irrefutable description of the financial woes that afflicts Cuba, Jamaica and most of the Caribbean was aptly described in 'Managing crisis in Jamaica and Cuba' by Sunday Gleaner columnist Robert Buddan and in a plea contained in a letter to the editor, 'Why we can't just unite' by Homer Sylvester. Both pieces touched and bring to the surface the root cause of our festering underdevelopment, poverty and dependency.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile lands remain undeveloped in Cuba, while our region exhibit a fragile food security. Tens of thousands of health-care profes-sionals, educators and others remain underpaid and underutilised in Cuba, while 50 million people are without health-care insurance and similar amount of students are technically illiterate in the United States. Tens of millions of emigrant retirees living in fear and bordering on financial collapse in the developing world could easily live in a safe, healthy and beautiful environment in Cuba, generating hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars for every citizen in the Caribbean.

Artificial borders

We were wickedly divided by artificial borders, fictitious nations, ethnic divisions, religious differences, social class and/or sexual preferences by our slave masters, and we have religiously imposed their demonical creed upon ourselves in their absence.

Through the various economic groupings in the region, and scores of other international institutions, the way has been cleared for us to walk into the future as soon as we decide to fear no more.

Let's stop complaining about our horrendous past of sufferings and deaths and begin today to pool our limited resources, one, two or five dollars from each of our willing citizen, and let's create our first transnational co-op in Cuba, capable of producing one million tons of high-demand cassava in the world and hundreds of millions of dollars for us by the year 2011. Creating two million jobs in the Caribbean by the year 2015 is not a chimera, it should be a goal!

I am, etc.,

Alberto N. Jones, DVM

cacf2@aol.com