Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Tuesday thanked the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for its stance against the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States on his country for more than six decades.
Bridgetown.- In his speech at the 8th CARICOM-Cuba Summit in Barbados, the head of State acknowledged the bloc’s solidarity and support during the Covid-19 pandemic and after the accidents and natural disasters that occurred in the country this year, with the loss of human lives and considerable material damage.
Díaz-Canel also condemned Cuba’s inclusion in Washington’s unilateral list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism and the region’s dignified stance regarding the exclusion of Cuba and other nations from the recent 9th Summit of the Americas.
The president expressed his deep satisfaction with relations between the Caribbean bloc and Cuba, reiterated the will of the leaders of the Revolution, Fidel, and Raul Castro, to maintain ties with the Caribbean nations, cooperate in solidarity, support them to face the challenges from the colonial past, and achieve common international positions.
Diaz-Canel appreciated the defense of the region’s states of the permanence of Cuban professionals and technicians despite manipulation campaigns and assured that this meeting would demonstrate the essential nature of the nations' unity for human improvement and the achievement of a fairer and more sustainable world.
The Cuban president stated that this meeting will reinforce the indestructible condition of the historic bonds of solidarity and respect, reiterated Cuba’s unconditional aid in the light of adversity and the possibility of sharing “our modest resources.”
He ratified that “the Caribbean shall always count on Cuba, so it has been, and so it will be.”
PRESIDENT VALUES CUBA’S CONTRIBUTION TO HEALTH AND EDUCATION
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel assured that cooperation relations with the Caribbean Community nations contributed to the development of the region in such sensitive sectors as health and education.
In his speech, during the opening ceremony of the 8th Caricom-Cuba Summit, the president mentioned the harmonious coexistence and mutual enrichment, starting from the defense of customs and popular culture, and recalled the donation to the area of 144 000 doses of the island’s vaccines against Covid-19.
He reassured as priorities of the relations with the regional group, the willingness to share experiences in health, the granting of medical scholarships, and the training of highly qualified professionals in various sectors.
The President pointed out that more than two thousand Cuban doctors, nurses, sports trainers, engineers, and teachers work in Caricom countries and also referred to the readiness to consolidate these exchanges of common benefit.
He also referred to the complex situation in Haiti, and confirmed the interest in carrying on aiding that brotherly country and Cuba’s position that "urges for peace and stability in the world and defends the right of its people to seek a peaceful solution, through talks on their great challenges."
Diaz-Canel called for international solidarity with Port-au-Prince and the promotion of concrete formulas and projects, based on respect for sovereignty and self-determination, especially at a time marked by painful challenges such as the recent outbreak of cholera.
This meeting brought up the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, on December 8, 1972, between Havana and four independent countries in the area: Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The gathering of the bloc, which is made up of 15 island and continental non-Spanish-speaking states, also commemorates the two decades of Caricom-Cuba's Day, established on December the 8th, 2002, when one of these meetings was held for the first time in Havana. (PL)
