BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, The eighth Caribbean Community (CARICOM)–Cuba summit got underway here on Tuesday, questioning the continued trade and economic embargo against Havana as well as a promise to maintain and strengthen the ongoing relationship that has guided the parties for the last 50 years.
“The Caribbean Community condemns unreservedly the continuation of the economic, trade, and financial embargo imposed on Cuba by the United States, and is steadfast, and unrelenting, in our calls, for its immediate cessation,” CARICOM chairman and Suriname President Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi, told the opening ceremony.
Santoshi recalled the statement made by CARICOM during the Summit of the Americas held in the United States earlier this year, where the attendance of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua had become a major issue that divided the 15-member regional integration grouping.
“CARICOM made clear that it is incomprehensible that countries of the Americas, including Cuba, which have provided strong leadership, and contributed to the hemisphere on critical issues of our time, were isolated from the Summit,” he said, adding, “we, in CARICOM, remain committed and constant, in our advocacy for Cuba, to be fully integrated, into all aspects of hemispheric, and international relations, and trade.”
Santoshi said that Suriname, like the rest of the region, also offers its “unwavering support” to Cuba, in relation, to the call to end the unfair and unjust economic, financial, and commercial blockade against Cuba.
Earlier, the host Prime Minister Mia Mottley recalled the move by the four CARICOM countries, namely, Guyana, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago, to defy the international community and establish diplomatic relations with Cuba.
“We stand therefore today reflective of that commitment and conscious that this happened even before our Community was established, for it is next year that we as a Caribbean Community will celebrate 50 years.
“We equally stand here today, conscious that much of what has transpired over the last six decades has no foundation in rationale behavior nor does it have any reflection of the values which we hold as Caribbean people with respect to the embargo which has been placed on the people of Cuba for over six decades.”
The United States maintains a comprehensive economic embargo on Cuba. In February 1962, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed an embargo on trade between the United States and Cuba in response to certain actions taken by the Cuban government and directed the Departments of Commerce and the Treasury to implement the embargo.
The embargo against Cuba prevents American businesses and businesses organized under U.S. law or majority-owned by American citizens from conducting trade with Cuban interests.
Mottley, the first woman to head a government here, said that the actions of Washington “predated my birth, and the fact that they continue for so long requires us to ask the very simple question what have the people of Cuba done to the people of this world to have to ensure this hardship for over six decades?
Mottley said it is a very simple question “because for us CARICOM-Cuba relations has been anchored in a people-to-people relationship.”
In his address to the ceremony, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel also thanked CARICOM for condemning the move to label Cuba as a country contributing to terrorism.
“Likewise, we thank you for the position that was taken by our Caribbean brothers and sisters by denouncing the exclusion of Cuba and other countries from the so-called Summit of the Americas.”
He said the late Fidel Castro and his brother Raul had made “valiant efforts” to ensure good and improved relations between the 15-member regional grouping and Havana “and to find common positions on the international scene and also to define the essence of our friendship.
“Dear brothers and sisters, I am certain that this meeting will show the unity of our people, which is necessary for improving the conditions of the human beings in our countries and achieving a more fair and sustainable world.”
He praised the four regional countries that 1972 had established relations with Havana, adding, “to them, we will always owe a debt of gratitude.
“The cooperative relationship with the sister countries of the Caribbean has definitely helped us to contribute to the development of your countries in crucial sectors such as education and health,” he said, praising the “bravery of the countries here represented in defense of Cuban professionals in the face of the massive and cynical campaign of our enemies who tried to deprive the people of the Caribbean of the health services that Cuba has to offer.
“Solidarity has characterized the development of our relationship, and this reality has helped us to enjoy long-standing and high-level political and diplomatic relations. It is up to us to enhance these exchanges,” Díaz-Canel said.
Santoshi told the conference that he wanted to place on record the region’s “gratitude for these fraternal gestures and thank our sister nation of Cuba for its unwavering support to CARICOM.
“This assistance has facilitated the building of regional capacity, in critical areas, such as public health, infrastructure development, agriculture, and disaster management, in addition to socio-cultural fields of import.
“Without the assistance of Cuba, the region would undoubtedly be confronted with far higher debt and stunted development,” he added.
CARICOM Secretary General Dr. Carla Barnett said CARICOM-Cuba relations have remained constant through the ever-changing political, social, economic, and environmental contexts.
“We have strengthened our relationship by continuously exploring new opportunities for cooperation, underpinned by successive declarations arising from meetings such as this summit.
“The shared respect for multilateralism and international law between CARICOM and Cuba has facilitated coordination in international fora and strengthened regional positions on matters of importance. In that regard, the Community will continue to maintain its solidarity and support for Cuba with regard to the lifting of the unjust U.S. financial and economic embargo,” s
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