TRUMP PLAYS DIPLOMATIC HARDBALL; HE TELLS CARIBBEAN LEADERS: IT'S THE UNITED STATES OR CHINA, AND YOU MUST NOW CHOOSE. HE ALSO THREATENS LOSS OF VISAS FOR ITS LEADERS TO VISIT AMERICA, IF THEY DON'T CEASE MEDICAL COOPERATION WITH CUBA

American President Donald Trump, in what has been reported in local media as a direct challenge to Caribbean leaders, is forcing them to choose the United States over the Peoples' Republic of China, in what is fast becoming a new Cold War between the world's greatest economic & military powers. The Caribbean states are being told to disengage with China, and to render unqualified allegiance to the U.S. upon pain of diplomatic and economic sanctions, if they decline.

And in an even more direct statement, Trump has advised the most senior Caribbean leaders to either cancel all medical cooperation with Cuba, or face the loss of visas for politicians and government leaders to visit the United States. The Caribbean states are now faced with a hard choice, for China has freely extended credit for vital infrastructure, but the U.S. wants the region to be free from becoming part of China's sphere of influence, and is demanding that the Caribbean unmoor itself from China, and firmly support America, or face painful economic and political consequences. 

We will be watching to see which choice the EC states now make. Will the region's left-leaning Caribbean leaders defy President Trump, and risk crippling sanctions from their largest trading partner and source of remittances from Expats, by retaining their financial ties with China and Cuba? These are hard choices; will these leaders make the correct one?