On the occasion of the VII Cuba - Caricom Summit, the Organization of Easter Caribbean States reaffirms its solidarity.

STATEMENT BY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OECS Dr. DIDACUS JULES AT VII CUBA-CARICOM SUMMIT 8th December 2020. On behalf of the OECS Commission, it is my duty to convey our deepest appreciation, our profound solidarity with the Cuban Revolution – I know that in diplomatic circles one sometimes speaks euphemistically and that solidarity is sometimes expressed to the “Government and People” but today we need to emphasize that solidarity with the Cuban Revolution.   Because it is the fact of revolution in Cuba that enabled the Cuban people to free themselves of the shackles of illiteracy, to achieve one of the highest human development indexes in the so-called Third World, to become a global medical superpower, to unflinchingly support the Anti-Apartheid struggle and shed its own blood on many continents that the independence and sovereignty of the rainbow races of the world can find their equal place in the Sun.

Today we celebrate that day in 1972 when our Leaders of courage – Forbes Burnham of Guyana, Eric Williams of Trinidad & Tobago, Michael Manley of Jamaica, and Errol barrow of Barbados (supported by the dexterous diplomacy of Sir Sonny Ramphal) exhibited courage in the face of intimidation and when the bond of family was asserted as a non-negotiable principle of our Caribbean ambition.

From that moment, Cuba and the Caribbean have walked side by side, hand in hand united by common challenges, shared histories of exploitation and the simple desire to live together in a zone of peace.  Never a moment since then, has Cuba ever hesitated to extend a helping hand to the Caribbean, or to offer the modesty of its help with a heart far larger than its coffers.  Never since then has Cuba ever demanded a quid for a pro and she has proposed even when not asked – ask the hundreds of thousands of Latin American and Caribbean people whose eyesight has been restored through Operacion Milagro.  And in every disaster, in very pandemic, there is always Cuba “as constant as the northern star of whose true fixed and resting quality there is no fellow in the firmament”.  The Henry Reeves Brigade has made its mark in every corner of the world impacted by pestilence, pandemic and poverty and we urge the endorsement of all CARICOM Member States for the nomination of this brigade for the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Esteemed Chair, Che Guevara several decades ago asserted that “in this world there is a need of individuals who work more and criticize less, who build more and destroy less, who promise less and solve more, expect to receive less and give more, and who say better now than tomorrow”.  Today more than ever we need these qualities in all geographies, among all races, between all nations and our celebration today of the fraternity of Cuba in the Caribbean family is a recognition of that necessity.  The concatenation of crises that assail us in this historical epoch require nothing less than unshakeable resolve by all humanity; nothing smaller than global solutions and nothing less precious than an empathy of the spirit which recognizes that we all are diminished when any one of us is denigrated.

Let us look to the future with optimism despite the pessimism of the present moment and this optimism can be emboldened by the words of Fidel when he reminded us that:

The fact is, when people carry the same ideals in their hearts, nothing can isolate them - neither prison walls nor the sod of cemeteries. For a single memory, a single spirit, a single idea, a single conscience, a single dignity will sustain them all.

Viva la Amistad entre Cuba y el Caribe!

 

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