ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Dominica Friday urged Ecuador to help countries like Haiti, Cuba, and Venezuela deal with the political and socio-economic problems confronting them due to sanctions and trade embargoes, among other measures.
President Charles Savarin, accepting the letter of credence from Ecuador’s new Ambassador, Jose’ Maria Borja Lopez, said Dominica is particularly concerned about the situation in Haiti, where President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July 2021, and armed gangs have been roaming the streets engaging in kidnapping for ransom and murder.
In addition, the opposition parties have been demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry and demanding long overdue elections in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
“I do not doubt that Ecuador shares similar concerns in light of its membership in the Bolivarian Alliance for the People’s of the Americas (ALBA) and its commitment to deepen diplomatic, economic, and commercial relations with Caribbean states,” Savarin said.
“Haiti is a country…which was once the wealthiest colony in the Americas. It is now the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere as a result of a series of unnatural disasters,” the Dominican Head of state said, adding that Ecuador could help alleviate the plight of the Haitians “by lending its support in developing a plan to fund the overall transformation of Haiti, more particularly in areas such as health and education, housing, civil administration, security, food security…and general economic activity”.
He said regarding Cuba, for the past 60 years, the people in that country have been deprived of being fully integrated into the global financial and trading system “owing to the unfair economic embargo and sanctions imposed upon Cuba by the United States.
“While we welcome the near unanimously repeated UN resolution against the US sanctions on Cuba, further progress at normalization is still needed to persuade the United States to lift its sanctions against Cuba.”
Savarin said in 2015, Washington, followed by several countries, imposed numerous financial and economic sanctions against Venezuela, “and since then the people of Venezuela have been enduring severe hardships….
“The government of Ecuador, along with the member states of the OAS (Organization of American States), could help Cuba and Venezuela to resolve their challenges and improve the lives of their people, not only by joining the voices of the many other countries which call for the immediate lifting of the unjust sanctions imposed on the people of Cuba and Venezuela but by taking concrete action,” to help reverse the situation, Savarin said.
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