Her Excellency Dame Cecil La Grenade, Governor General.
Honorable Prime Minister, Dickon Mitchell.
Others Members of the Cabinet.
The Right Honorable Dr. Keith Mitchell, Leader of the Opposition.
Others Members of Parliament.
Dear colleagues Ambassadors of the Republic of Venezuela, China and Resident British Commissioner.
Former and current Ambassadors of Grenada to Cuba.
Members of the Grenada-Cuba Friendship Association.
Cuban collaborators and residents.
Members of the media.
Last April 14th, we celebrated 44 years of bilateral relations and friendship between our two countries. Grenada and Cuba established diplomatic relations on April 14th, 1979, one month after the triumph of the Grenadian revolution.
Since then, Cuba has provided technical assistance in sectors such as education, health, fisheries, agriculture, construction and sports. Several Grenadian students received and continue to receive scholarships to study in Cuba. The most remarkable feature of that effort is that the overwhelming majority always return to Grenada to serve and develop their homeland.
After October 1983, relations between both countries were suspended; and in March 1992, relations were normalized once again during the government of the Prime Minister Nickolas Brathwaite. In April 1994, Cuba appointed an Ambassador to Grenada, whose residence was in Barbados.
In 1997, the former Prime Minister, Dr. the Right Honorable Keith Mitchell, made an official visit to Cuba, and in 1998, Comrade Fidel Castro visited Grenada and unveiled a plaque that reminded the world of the tremendous assistance rendered by the government of Cuba in the construction of the international airport at Point Salines, now the Maurice Bishop International Airport. Both moments marked a rebirth of relations between our countries, which resulted in the opening of Embassies in Havana and St. Georges in 1999.
Most recently, the official visit of President Diaz Canel to Grenada and the participation of Prime Minister, Honorable Dickon Mitchell, in the XXII Summit of ALBA-TCP, held in December 2022 in St. George and Havana respectively, reiterated the will to continue strengthening cooperation between both countries and working towards unity and integration.
We appreciate the solidarity that we have always received from Grenada in our struggle to achieve justice for our people and in the rejection to the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States, which is intended to suffocate the Cuban people. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr: “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere” and therefore we also appreciate the support of Grenada´s Government in rejection of Cuba’s designation by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism and its decision to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our people in our fight to exercise the right to choose our own path.
Relations between our countries are historic and marked by strong ties and deep roots. Cuba will continue to resolutely promote solidarity, cooperation and integration to strengthen fraternal bonds among our nations. In this regard, my country's will is to deepen the bonds of brotherhood, mutual support and cooperation between our nations. It is in our hands to continue working with passion and determination and we will dedicate all our effort to this purpose.
Long live the friendship between the peoples of Cuba and Grenada.
I thank you!