End embargo, CARICOM pleads

Barbados’ Prime Minister and the chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) today renewed calls for an end to the 60 years of trade and financial embargo against Cuba.

Mottley said the international trade embargo was not “rational” while President of Suriname and chairman of CARICOM Chandrikapersad Santokhi labelled the action “unjust” and against the United Nation’s principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“Much of what has transpired over the last six decades has no foundation in rational behaviour 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,” Mottley told the second day of the Eighth CARICOM CUBA Summit being held here at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

““The fact that they continue so long requires us to ask a very simple question ‘what has the people of Cuba done to the people of this world to endure this hardship for over six decades?’”

Her sentiments were mirrored by Santokhi who said the “unjust” embargo should cease.

“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.”

In her address, Mottley suggested that CARICOM needs to strengthen its ties with Cuba now more than ever as the region continues to face issues of climate change, gun crime, health crises and adequate access to nutritious food and clean water.

She told the conference that Cuba has contributed greatly to the development of many Caribbean states but given the uncertainties the region was up against, it was time to strengthen and deepen ties with the Caribbean neighbour.

The Prime Minister said CARICOM’s relationship with Cuba has been anchored on a people-to-people relationship, noting Cuba’s support to the region in health and other areas.

“If there was ever a time for us to recommit our efforts to work together, not just for one Caribbean but also as countries of the Global South, it is now. This world is facing the greatest challenges perhaps in the last century that we have seen. From the climate crisis to the lack of reform of our financial institutions globally so that they can be a fair and just deal for access, especially for small countries who hitherto are being asked to pay a disproportionate price for capital, to the question of lack of access to supply chains that allow our societies and economies to function efficiently.

“These are the things that would continue to bedevil us but when compounded by public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and indeed our own difficulties with chronic non communicable diseases and further compounded by our ready access to automatic weapons that has led to an uptick in crime across this region, then we begin to understand that our societies are challenged like they have never been challenged before,” she said.

The Barbados leader reminded the session that a deeper level of commitment is required.

“I simply remind us that whenever those challenges have confronted Caribbean people we have dug deep and we have worked together. The principles of justice and solidarity are not old school, they are relevant today and they must motivate us to a higher form of commitment and action than we have had indeed in the last 50 years if we are to overcome all of these challenges.

“The question of food security and access to water remain at the front of all of our concerns because unless our people can eat and our people can take care of themselves, we will not meet the basic needs of societal organisation.

“I trust and pray that during today’s encounter in Bridgetown that we would be motivated to deepen our collaboration and cooperation even further and to ensure that we remove any division from language to political framing that does not necessarily reflect our commitment to the United Nations charter, which respects the independence and sovereignty of individual nation states . . . and to come together not as Heads of Government and Heads of State but to come together in defence of Caribbean people, who more than ever, need that cooperation, resilience and solidarity if we are to allow them to navigate their way through these choppy seas.”

Cuban president Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel said that as the region looks to recover from the negative economic fallout associated with the COVID-19 pandemic CARICOM and Cuba must deepen their solidarity and unity.

He said there was a greater need to push climate mitigation programmes as the region continued to be impacted by extreme weather conditions.

He added that Cuba was willing to maintain and strengthen the links and exchanges with CARICOM.

“Our historical commitment to health to the Caribbean nations is long standing and we have maintained this commitment at the hardest times. In this vein we are willing to donate to the subregion 1 440 doses of our COVID-19 vaccines.”

Díaz-Canel said he was also pleased to note that Cuba was empowering the lives of hundreds of Caribbean people through its scholarship programmes.

He said that in recent times 851 people received scholarships to study medicine and other disciplines, noting that more than 2 000 Cuban doctors, technicians, nurses, coaches and teachers were working across the Caribbean. (SZB)