In a solemn act organized in collaboration by the Government of Barbados and the Embassy of Cuba in that country, on the morning of October 6, the date that marks the anniversary of this aircraft bombing in Barbados, a representation of authorities, diplomats, religious, athletes, doctors, nurses, civil solidarity movements and Cuban residents gathered at the monument erected in front of the site where CUBANA flight 455 crashed in the waters of the Caribbean Sea, a monument which was inaugurated in 1998 by Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro Ruz.
The event was attended by the Minister of Culture in the Office of the Prime Minister of Barbados, Honorable Member of Parliament Shantal Munro-Knight, the Ambassadors of Argentina, Barbados to the Caribbean, Cuba, Guyana and Venezuela, Lady Billie Miller, Ambassador Emeritus of Barbados, who was the Foreign Minister who conceived and built the monument. There was also a representation of the Cuban health and sports cooperating brigades, the leaders of civil society in solidarity with Cuba. and Cubans residing in Barbados.
The drumming of young musicians from Hynesville gave the introduction to the priest Tifasé John Howell to offer a libation to the memory of the fallen. Then the notes of the national anthems of Cuba and Barbados were heard and the Barbadian poet Winston Farrell read the poem he wrote in his youth in the days immediately after the downing of the plane.
The trumpeter of the army band played a bugle call and then Bishop Richards of the Methodist Church proceeded to rededicate the monument, after its restoration.
Lady Billie Miller recalled her trips to Cuba and her impression at the memory she found among the Cubans of the Barbados Cubana aircraft bombing, and about her many meetings with Fidel. She told how from these elements the idea of the monument was conceived between her and the artist and once captured in drawings she showed them to Fidel.
The diplomatic representatives of Guyana and Venezuela also spoke, and the President of the Barbados-Cuba Friendship Association, David Denny, who demanded the end of the blockade and the need to remove Cuba from the list of countries that promote terrorism.
For his part, the Ambassador of Cuba denounced the history of terrorism against his country, this first blow-up of a civil plane and the impunity of those criminals, convicted, confessed and sentenced who were later pardoned and continued to commit misdeeds and crimes and foment the continuous aggression against Cuba, which does not end. Finally, he recalled Fidel's words on the occasion of the funeral of the fallen, when he said. “We cannot say that the pain is shared. The pain multiplies. Millions of Cubans cry today together with the loved ones of the victims of the abominable crime. And when an energetic and brave people cry, injustice trembles!”
In her closing speech, the Minister of Culture reiterated her country's support for the need to end the blockade and the exclusion of Cuba, highlighting the contribution that Cuba has made to the Caribbean and the world and that the memory of this crime must exhort us to end the violence and preserve the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.
The school children's choir closed the act with the interpretation of an anthem.
#Cuba #Barbados #CARICOM #TenemosMemoria #MejorSinBloqueo
