Anyone who thought that last September's change in administration to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) would have led to a lurch to the right in Jamaica's foreign policy would have been surprised by the posture on a number of hemispheric issues by Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

Mr Golding has, by his utterances and actions, been discreetly making it clear to Washington that while his government cherishes what many Jamaicans consider to be their country's special relationship with the United States, this will not constrain it from friendships with America's foes.

Jamaica's response to Fidel Castro's resignation as Cuba's president and his succession by younger brother Raul Castro is a case in point. Washington sees little in the transition - which in the eyes of President Bush is a change from one dictator to the other.

The Americans, in the circumstances, see no reason to end the trade embargo that has been in place for most of the 49 years that Fidel Castro was in office. And neither does the Bush administration feel there is cause, at this time, to normalise relations with Havana. According to the White House and the State Department, there has first to be moves towards democracy in Cuba.

The contrast between the attitude of the Americans and Mr Golding's message of congratulations to Raul Castro could hardly have been sharper.

According to the Jamaica Information Service, Mr Golding hailed "the orderly transfer of power" in Havana as "a reflection of the strength of the political system in Cuba and the enduring legacy of the revolution which has guided the development of Cuba for the last 50 years".

Moreover, when Fidel Castro announced he would not continue as leader, Mr Golding noted that change was not one "required by some conformity, but one determined and managed by the Cuban people themselves".

"I hope that normalisation (of Cuba's relations with the world) will be allowed to proceed without being detained by unreasonableness," Mr Golding told the Jamaican Parliament.

Mr Golding's message was clear. Perhaps it is not the kind of language Ambassador LaGrange Johnson and the State Department would hope to hear from a Caribbean leader, especially one who, though not expected to be hostile towards Cuba, would also be a bit more circumspect in his embrace of the leadership in Havana. After all, Mr Golding was a member of the JLP administration during the ideological turbulence of the 1980s that broke relations with Cuba and proudly sided with the Americans.

As the PM pointed out in his parliamentary tribute to Fidel Castro, times and the world have changed. Jamaica's relations with Cuba is no longer a contentious issue.

Clearly, too, Mr Golding wants to pursue a foreign policy shaped by reasonableness and pragmatism. Cuba is merely 90 miles away from Jamaica and is this country's closest neighbour. There is growing trade and technical cooperation between the two countries. Moreover, if Jamaica wants to maintain its political leadership in the Caribbean Community, its behaviour can't be driven by narrow ideological concerns.

It is not only with Cuba, however, that this pragmatism is coming through. It has happened, too, with Venezuela, whose PetroCaribe oil facility the Government has embraced despite Mr Golding's snippiness about it while in Opposition. Also of interest is Mr Golding's growing warmth for the Caribbean. Responsibility and pressures on the pocketbook make for pragmatism.