Georgetown. This morning of October 6th, at the headquarters of the Cuban Embassy of this capital, it was held an event to pay tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack against flight CU-455 of Cubana Aviación, which is completed today 44 years. The event was presided by Ambassador Narciso Reinaldo Amador Socorro, and officials from the Cuban diplomatic mission and a representation of the Medical Collaboration Brigade that provides services in the Guyanese sister nation.
The Ambassador and the Chief of the Medical Brigade, Dr. Grechel Chaveco, laid a wreath by the plaque that perpetuates the memory of the fallen in that horrendous act of terrorism that claimed the lives of the seventy-three people who were there on board: 57 Cubans, 11 Guyanese, including 6 young people who were going to Cuba to study medicine and engineering and 5 Korean citizens.
Find the Ambassador's speech below:
Paying tribute to the victims of this brutal terrorist attack is a reminder of the devastating extent to which intolerance and hatred can reach. Seventy-three people were killed on October 6, 1976, in the explosion of flight CU-455 of the Cuban Aviation airline, among the passengers of the plane were 57 compatriots, 11 Guyanese citizens, including six young people selected to study medicine in Cuba, and 5 Korean citizens. All of them perished as a result of that abominable act that has made history as the "Crime of Barbados"
Each of the murdered people left a trace of pain and mourning among their family and friends, thousands of dreams were truncated. Every life lost in this atrocious act is a pain that we worthy and honest people carry within us defending peace and harmony and rejecting hatred and war.
For most of the families, there was not even the consolation of saying goodbye, according to the tradition of each country, the remains of their loved ones, most of what those people were lies in the abyss of the ocean. Wherever you are, we wish you to rest in peace. They will never be forgotten.
The attack perpetrated against a Cuban civilian plane was not an isolated act by a group of criminals; it was part of a genocidal policy against a free and sovereign country. Without the support of the Government of the United States and in particular of the Central Intelligence Agency, this heinous act that calls on all of us today would not have been possible, neither the thousands of terrorist acts committed against Cuba would have been possible either.
Unfortunately, the aggressive actions of the United States against Cuba have not yet stopped, not even in the current context marked by a devastating pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than a million people in the world. The criminal economic, commercial, and financial blockade has been intensified by the current US government, despite the demands of the international community to put an end to this criminal policy. The current US administration has declared a war on Cuban medical cooperation, trying to denigrate the efforts of thousands of Cuban health professionals who have saved and are still saving thousands of lives around the world.
On behalf of the people and government of Cuba, I deeply appreciate the solidarity received from the Guyanese people who were among the first to break the imperial siege and establish diplomatic relations with our country. We will always remember that gesture of dignity of our Guyanese brothers.
In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we face tremendous challenges, the first and most important is to save lives, Cuba has put to the neediest at their disposal its experience with the Henry Reeve Brigades, and its scientists who are working to increasingly improve the procedures for the treatment of this dangerous disease and in the clinical trials of various vaccines that we will certainly be able to make available to our Guyanese brothers.
Cuba will continue working for a world of peace, respect, and solidarity. That is the best tribute to our dead people, to those who were victims of hatred and intolerance.
Glory to the martyrs of Barbados!
