St George, September 24. Amid announcements of takeoffs and landings but with the typical cordiality of airport officials, the Cuban Ambassador to Grenada Ivette Martinez along with Consul Alexander Quintana, were received by executives of Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA). With the aim of exchanging information on future collaboration in air traffic services, connecting routes and cargo transportation to Cuba, the diplomats greeted Edgar Stephen, General Manager of the Grenada Airport Authority and met with Christina Joseph, Director of Operations and project engineers Aluko Dublin and Glean.
Learning about the new features of the facility once the modernization and expansion project of MBIA was completed was also part of the visit. Led by engineers Aluko Dublin and Glen, the diplomats visited the new access areas through two passenger boarding bridges, with an elevator system and glass tunnels, which provide comfort to passengers and improve efficiency.
The Ambassador said that just as in 1983 Grenada decided to build an airport that would allow it to open up to the world, a project in which it could count on Cuban builders, today that the MBIA is modernizing to provide international level services and safer and more comfortable experiences to its passengers, it can also count on Cuba, either in the collaboration of air traffic services or promoting tourism to increase travelers to Grenada.”
The meeting was conducive to reconciling logistical details of the tribute to the Cuban builders, who lost their lives during the US invasion in 1983. Executive Cristina Joseph stressed that “the Memorial is part of the heritage of that institution and will be a permanent place of tribute to the 24 Cuban internationalist martyrs.”
The diplomats visited the plaque unveiled by Commander Fidel Castro during his visit in August 1998, as a reminder of the work of the nearly 800 Cuban workers in the construction of the airport. In a space reserved for the exhibition of works of art, a plaster plaque is also preserved on which the hands of two of the Cuban builders are marked, representing the brotherhood that unites the peoples of Cuba and Granada.
(EmbaCubaGranada)