Statement of the Jamaica Peace Council
On behalf of our members and our entire nation, the Jamaica Peace Council wishes to express deep gratitude and appreciation to our sister nation of the Republic of Cuba for standing in solidarity with us by providing medical assistance to combat this Covid 19 pandemic.
At a time when Cubans have to be safeguarding their own people against the pandemic, while enduring harsh sanctions under the US blockade, they sent to us on March 21, 2020, 140 healthcare professionals from the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specializing in Disaster and Serious Epidemics. This contingent of healthcare specialists includes persons who have served on similar missions in the past and some with expertise honed over twenty years of professional experience. They will work alongside our health practitioners to combat the deadly Coronavirus.
We want to say special thanks to the ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to Jamaica, HE Mrs. Ines Fors Fernandez, for her time, effort and consideration in facilitating and navigating various processes to make this tremendous assistance to the Jamaican people a reality. We are grateful to President Miguel Diaz-Canel and the people of Cuba for the sacrifice which they are making on behalf of Jamaica and other nations around the world which are under attack from Covid 19.
We also thank our Jamaican Minister of Health, Dr Christopher Tufton, for reaching out to Cuba and doing all that was necessary to facilitate the arrival of the Cuban healthcare workers. We are deeply appreciative of the true Jamaican hospitality he displayed by extending a warm welcome to them on their arrival at the airport.
Our greatest gratitude is to the late Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz who had the foresight to make educating his people a priority, and who paid special attention to developing the healthcare capability of the resilient nation which is denied access to medicines and equipment from the West under the US blockade. As a result of Fidel’s great leadership, the Cuban people are imbued with the indomitable spirit of international solidarity which drives them to render humanitarian assistance all around the world, especially when humanity is faced with crises such as the one we are currently experiencing.
We are forever grateful and truly indebted to the Cuban people for their generosity, thoughtfulness and unrelenting acts of solidarity to our people. We assure the government and people of Cuba that their kindness and sincerity will be indelibly etched in the hearts and minds of our people for eternity. We assure them that we will continue to denounce the cruel economic blockade as we stand for regional and global peace which is so indispensable to achieving genuine progress and development, and creating that other world that is possible, as Fidel assured us.
Jamaica Peace Council
22 March 2020