Speech delivered by Hon, Moses Nagamootoo, Prime Minister and First Vice-President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana at Cubana air disaster monument, University of Guyana campus, October 6, 2018

MASSACRE IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA

“We have an explosion on board… We have fire abroad”.

Those were among the last words from Captain Wilfredo Perez as he radioed to the control tower at the then Seawell Airport in Barbados.

Those last words were conclusive testimony that Cubana Air Flight CU455 did not go down as the result of an accident. They were an indictment of the terrorists who had planted bombs on board the Cubana passenger aircraft on that fateful and tragic October 6, 1976.   

The aircraft had left Guyana, and was en route to Cuba with stops in Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica. But minutes after take-off from Barbados, it went down in the Caribbean Sea.  All 73 persons on board were killed. There were 57 Cubans, 5 Koreans and 11 Guyanese on board.

The Guyanese were :-

Eric Norton, 18 years old;

Ann Nelson, 18;

Seshnarine Kumar, 18;

Jacqueline Williams, 19; and

Rawle Thomas, 18 – all students on their way to study in Cuba, with relatives Violet Thomas and Rita Thomas.

9 year-old Sabrina Harripaul; Margaret Bradshaw, and Gordon Sobha, an Economist.

Our entire nation would remember the shock and horror of that day. We would continue to collectively share the grief and loss over the calculated mass murder, the massacre, of our Guyanese compatriots, citizens of the Republic of Cuba and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

As we collectively mourned our dead, I vividly recall Fidel Castro, then President of Cuba, saying, “when our grief is multiplied, injustice trembles”.

 New York, October 8, 2018.In her statement on Item  86: "The Rule of Law at the national and international level," from the agenda of the Sixth Committee of the United Nations, the Director of International Law at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anet Pino Rivero, condemned and demanded the immediate repeal of all the extraterritorial regulations sustaining the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States

New York, October 8, 2018."The blockade against Cuba continues to be imposed with full rigor.

The Deputies who are members of the International Relations Commission of the National Assembly of the Peoples Power’,
Remembering that the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba, from the start of its implementation in October of 1960, constitutes the most unfair, severe and prolonged system of unilateral sanctions ever applied on any country, 

On October 6th, the Australia-Cuba Friendship Society(ACFS) and the Cuban Embassy jointly organized an artistic gala in Canberra on the occasion of Cuban culture national day that will be officially celebrated on next October 20th.

Georgetown, October 6, 2018. Presided by the Prime Minister and First Vice President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Hon. Mr. Moses Veerasammy Nagamootoo and the Ambassador of Cuba, Narciso Reinaldo Amador Socorro, took place a ceremony of remembrance and homage to pay tribute to the 73 victims of the terrorist attack perpetrated on October 6, 1976, against Flight 455 of Cuban airliner. The event was held at the Memorial of the Victims of Terrorism, which is located on the campus of the University of Guyana.

Attending the homage, among other personalities were: Dr. Barton U.A. Scotland, CCHMP,  Speaker of the National Assembly of Guyana, Mr. George Norton, Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr. Nicolette Henry, Minister of Education, Mr. Winston Felix, Minister of Citizenship and Dr. Karen Cummings, Deputy Minister of Public Health.  There were also present, Mr. Halim Khan, president of the Movement of Solidarity with Cuba, representatives of the Diplomatic Corps accredited in Georgetown, members of the Association of Cuban Residents,  members of the medical and educational brigades of the Cuban cooperation, students and workers of the University of Guyana and officials of the Embassy of Cuba.

The Prime Minister, the Cuban Ambassador, the Honorary Consul of Barbados in Guyana and one of the relatives of the victims, placed a floral tribute before the plaque with the names of the fallen victims of that abhorrent attack.

In his speech the Prime Minister recalled that the criminal sabotage caused the death of 73 people, of them, 57 Cuban citizens, 5 North Koreans and 11 Guyanese and quoted in his own words, the words of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, during the funeral of the victims of the abominable crime, quoting, “When our grief is multiplied, injustice trembles!

The Embassy of Cuba in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Consulate General of Cuba in Rotterdam will remain closed on Wednesday October 10, 2018 for national holidays. The Embassy and the Consulate will resume their activities on Thurssday October 11.

Embassy of Cuba in the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Consulate General of Cuba in Rotterdam

The Deputies who are members of the International Relations Commission of the National Assembly of the Peoples Power’,

Remembering that the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba, from the start of its implementation in October of 1960, constitutes the most unfair, severe and prolonged system of unilateral sanctions ever applied on any country, 

In a solemn ceremony presided over by several ministers and high officials of the government of Barbados, civil society organizations and the accredited diplomatic corps, tribute was paid to the victims of the terrorist attack against the CU-455 flight of CUBANA on October 6, 1976 on the west coasts of this Caribbean island. The Minister of Foreign Trade in the Chancellery, Cheryl Sandra Husbands, the Minister of the Environment, Trevor Prescod, and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs, Simone Rudder, accompanied Cuban Ambassador Francisco Fernández to lay a wreath in remembrance of the victims. The General Consul of Guyana, Cita Pilgrim, the Secretary General of the Barbados-Cuba Friendship Association, David Denny, and Yaima Payne, president of the Association of Cuban Residents "Mártires de Barbados", also took the floor to condemn terrorism and express their condolences to the relatives of the 73 civilians killed in that despicable sabotage.

Istanbul, Turkey, October 7, 2018. Ambassador Luis Amorós Núñez and the other officials of the Cuban Embassy in Turkey held a meeting with a large group of members of the Cuban community living in Istanbul, their children and other relatives.