In a prestigious international panel of discussion held in Barbados as part of the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Cuban airliner in October 1976, it was released in recent days a worldwide campaign to have the UN declare on October 6 as the International Day against Terrorism. It was comprised of Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Cuban Hero Fernando Gonzalez Llort, the American actor-civil rights activist, Danny Glover, Barbadian attorney David Comissiong, Coordinator of the Caribbean Chapter of the Network in Defense of Humanity, Camilo Rojo, member of the Committee of Victims´ Relatives of the Barbados´ Crime, Dr. Tennyson Joseph, Head of Sociology Department of the University (UWI-Cave Hill Campus) and Camila Valdes, director of the Caribbean Studies Centre in Casa de las Americas publishing house and representative of the Cuban Chapter of the Network. All elements that give merit to this important initiative was provided, showing another point of unity and engagement of the Caribbean people.
By making the opening of the forum the Cuban ambassador, Francisco Fernandez, he said that because of the double standards of the empire in its anti-terrorism speech to 4 decades of horrendous crime justice remains absent and their intellectual and material authors are free, so this initiative by Caribbean Chapter of the Network has received the strong support of the Cuban chapter, on behalf of all the Cuban people and the families of the victims. He also claimed that the term of the genocidal blockade against Cuba, which is part of the same policy of state terrorism, demonstrates the urgent need to carry out this campaign.
Impunity of the crime was remarked by the distinguished panelists, who identified the need to continue demanding justice, the importance of the fact that new generations know history to assume and defend it, especially because in Latin America and the Caribbean we had two 9 / 11 before downing of the twin towers in New York, one in Chile in 1973 with the overthrow of President Allende´s legitime government and his murder, and the other in Barbados in 1976, which was the baptism of this region against terrorist violence. This battle which will have its detractors, also serve to show the world that life of Caribbean does matter and it will be another noble cause to strengthen our identity as nations.
Finalizing the event, Prime Minister Gonsalves issued the letter received from the Caribbean Chapter´s Coordinator requesting support for launching this campaign, which he circulated immediately to the Secretary General of CAICOM, its Pro Tempore Chairman, Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerritt, and all heads of state and Government of the Community. In turn he exhorted add the wills of other regional integration mechanisms such as ALBA-TCP, CELAC and the Non-Aligned Movement.