A new association – Amigos de Cuba (ADEC) or Friends of Cuba – was officially launched last Saturday afternoon in solidarity with the Cuban government.
The launch ceremony was held in a packed conference room 1 at the International Conference Centre Seychelles (ICCS).
The launch of the association is a sign of Seychelles’ gratitude to and solidarity with the Cuban people for what this Caribbean country has done for Seychelles. The association, under the care of a steering committee chaired by Simon Gill, will under primary objectives, promote good relationship and strengthen the ties of friendship between the people of Seychelles and Cuba.
Mr Gill had the honour to unveil ADEC’s logo, which depicts the Cuban and Seychelles flags merged together in the form of a heart.
ADEC will encourage the participation of people from all walks of life and promote the awareness and understanding of Cuban history, culture and society. There will also be organised activities of all kinds in Seychelles as well as in Cuba so that the two peoples can exchange experiences, learn and benefit from one another. Anyone residing in Seychelles and fully supports the association’s objectives and of course Cuba, may apply for membership.
The aim of the launch of ADEC was for the steering committee to be endorsed in preparation for election of office bearers in a year’s time.
Other members of ADEC’s steering committee are Dereck Samson as vice- chairman and ordinary members Douglas Accouche (responsible for international relations and special events), Ladis Laurette (responsible for socio-cultural), Marie-Michelle Payet (responsible for health, sports and wellbeing), Noussira Daman (responsible for public relations and networking), Nelson Joseph and Gerard Monthy.
Present at the launch on Saturday afternoon were the Cuban ambassador to Seychelles, Juan Humberto Macías Pino, the members to be of ADEC, Cubans working in Seychelles and other staff from the Cuban embassy.
During the ceremony, Ambassador Macías Pino presented the Cuban flag to ADEC chairperson, Mr Gill. There were forms available for membership application and the chairperson of the specialised committees took the opportunity to seek members to join the committees from among the audience.
In his introductory remarks, Mr Gill said the solidarity between the people of Cuba and the people of Seychelles has been engraved for more than 40 years since independence in 1976 when the two countries established diplomatic relations.
“I can proudly say that Cuba is the only country in terms of cooperation, with a presence of more professional men and women than any other country, in Seychelles,” Mr Gill said, noting that there are 78 Cuban professionals working in our health and agriculture sectors.
He went on to add that the number of Cubans here in Seychelles demonstrates the profound relationship based on the sharing philosophy of former Cuban President Fidel Castro.
He urged the audience to mobilise families and friends to join the solidarity movement, ADEC.
According to Mr Gill it was not possible to get a mutual understanding with members of the inactive Seychelles Cuba Friendship Association (SEYCUFA) to revive the association through ADEC as a way forward to keeping up the spirit of solidarity with the Cuban People.
But he noted that members of SEYCUFA are welcome to join ADEC.
Ambassador Macías Pino, who gave a brief history of the Cuban revolution since 1868 till independence in 1959, said that Cuba has always developed diplomacy of cooperation and mutual respect with other countries and will continue to do so.
“Cuba’s contributions to Africa is well known. We came to assist our brothers and sisters on the continent at the requests of governments. Thousands of Cubans came to Africa to fight for its independence because Africa’s blood runs through our veins and many of our ancestors came from Africa,” said Ambassador Macías Pino.
He thanked Seychelles for valuing Cuban assistance and for supporting Cuba on the international scene.
The ceremony ended with questions and answers on ADEC followed by a reception in the ICCS lobby.
