Young Barbadians from university and pre-university education formed an ideal audience that received with great interest the International Colloquium on the life and work of the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, held in two intense sessions of fruitful exchange this February 24th, at UWI - Cave Hill Campus, sponsored by its Social Sciences Faculty and the Network in Defense of Humanity - Caribbean Chapter, with the collaboration of the embassies of Cuba and Venezuela. With seven presentations made by prominent UWI academics and intellectuals members of the Network resident in several countries, diverse aspects of the life of the Commander were addressed, from his stage as a student leader, the Marti´s legacy in his work, the profound political, cultural and economic-social revolution made in Cuba, its role in regional integration, internationalism in Africa and international solidarity with Third World countries.
Coordinator of the Caribbean Chapter, lawyer David Comissiong, highlighted the main elements of his biography, with particular emphasis on his youth as a university leader and the teaching that left the Caribbean and the rest of the world to rise for a better world. The Cuban ambassador, Dr. Francisco Fernández, presented the essential features of the Marti´s ideology in Fidel and in the philosophy of the Cuban Revolution, complemented by Dr. Aaron Kamugisha, lecturer of the Faculty of Humanities of the UWI. Dr. Marlén Sánchez, from the Chair of the Caribbean University of Havana, spoke about the profound social content of the change introduced by the Revolution, supported by Dr. Joan Phillips, lecturer of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the UWI. Dr. Kai-Ann Skeete of the Shridath Ramphal Center for International Studies developed the integrationist facet in the Caribbean and Latin America, supported by Dr. Wendy Grenade of Political Science´s School. Historian Dr. Richard Goodridge was given the internationalist role in the liberation of Africa, complemented by Cikiah Thomas, President of the African Global Congress. Fidel's contributions to independence, sovereignty and anti-imperialism were addressed by Trinitarian union leader David Abdulah, a member of REDH, who was followed by Dr. Tennyson Joseph, head of the Department of Sociology at UWI. The representative of the Department of International Relations of our Party, Master Idalmis Brooks, with a conceptualization on how the Cuban political regime operates, discussed by Dr. Cynthia Barrow-Giles of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the UWI, concluded the intense day.
The local and regional press covered the forum, during which the Barbadian youth, who formed the majority of the audience, were able to ask and be interested in the most diverse aspects of the life and work of the Commander Fidel. Among the conclusions of the event were the usefulness for the new generations and the need to continue this practice, since it was obviously a first approach that could not exhaust any of the topics, on the contrary it was a call for going deeper in each of them.