UWI colloquium to commemorate 50 years of CARICOM/Cuba relationship

The Faculty of Social Sciences of the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) has joined forces with the Barbados/Cuba Friendship Association, the Assembly of Caribbean People, the Caribbean Chapter of the International Network in Defense of Humanity, the Caribbean Peace Movement, and the Embassy of Cuba in Barbados to stage a one-day colloquium at the Cave Hill campus on Wednesday, on the theme of “Commemorating 50 years of the CARICOM/CUBA Relationship”.

The historical background of this event is that at the Seventh Commonwealth Caribbean Heads of Government Conference held at Chaguaramas in Trinidad in October 1972, the heads of Government of the then four independent Commonwealth Caribbean nations – Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and Barbados – made two truly historic decisions.

One decision was to convert the then existing Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) into a Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), and the other decision was to agree to collectively establish diplomatic and economic relations with the revolutionary Republic of Cuba.

What made the latter decision particularly momentous was that it was made in the face of concerted pressure by both the Organization of American States (OAS) and the government of the powerful United States of America (USA) to impose a hemisphere-wide policy of isolation on revolutionary Cuba.

And having made the decision in October 1972, the four leaders – Prime Ministers Michael Manley, Eric Williams, Forbes Burnham and Errol Barrow – kept true to their word and established relations with Cuba on the 8th of December 1972.

Thus, this year of 2022 is the 50th anniversary year of what was – in effect – the establishment of diplomatic relations between CARICOM and Cuba, and this historic milestone will be commemorated by the Heads of Government of CARICOM and Cuba by staging a CARICOM-CUBA Heads of Government Summit on the 6th of December 2022 at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre in Barbados.

The President of Cuba and his delegation will therefore be coming to Barbados to attend the CARICOM/CUBA Summit on Tuesday, 6th December 2022, as will, indeed, be the Heads of Government and delegations of fifteen CARICOM member states.

The UWI and the CARICOM civil society organizations have therefore seized the opportunity to augment the political dialogue that will be taking place at the level of heads of government with a civil society-based dialogue of Cuban and Caribbean Community intellectuals, artists and activists on the day following the Heads of Government Summit.

The Colloquium will be held at the Arts Lecture Theatre of the Cave Hill campus in Barbados, commencing at 9AM, and will be centred around the following topics:-

(1)         Half a century of Fighting the Blockade Against Cuba

(2)         Reflections on major milestones and turning points in the 50-year CARICOM/CUBA journey

(3)         Fifty years of CARICOM/CUBA cultural/artistic interactions and people to people relations

(4)         Examining the CARICOM/CUBA educational, medical, scientific and technological collaboration

(5)         Current realities and prospects for the next 50 years of CARICOM/CUBA relations

(6)         A  CARICOM / CUBA People’s Conversation

A variety of resource persons from Cuban and CARICOM civil society, as well as from the UWI academic community, will serve as participants on the panels that will address the six topics.

The Cuban panellists will include such personalities as Fernando Gonzalez (one of the Cuban Five and Chair of Cuba’s Institute For Friendship With The Peoples), Ambassador Sergio Pastrana, Ambassador Maria Fiffe Cabreja, and Dr Jacqueline La Guardia of the St Augustine campus of UWI, while the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela will be represented by Ambassador Martha Ortega.

CARICOM participants will include such personalities as Michael Heslop, Dr Yanique Hume and Judith Wedderburn of Jamaica, Earl Bousquet and Ambassador Peter Lansiquot of St Lucia, Gerald Perreira of Guyana, David Abdullah of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Terrence Marryshow of Grenada, Jomo Thomas of St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Hon. Trevor Prescod, David Denny, Dr Sharon Marshall, Dr Anthony “Gabby” Carter,  Dr Kai Ann Skeete, Ambassador Donna Forde and Rosana Herrero of Barbados.

There will also be an African-Canadian contingent comprising Dr Isaac Saney of Dalhousie University and Cikiah Thomas, Chair of the Global Afrikan Congress (GAC).

Members of the public are invited to attend the Colloquium in person. Alternatively, persons may attend virtually on the ZOOM platform.