By: WWW.TRABAJADORES.CO.CU
December 13 2005
Political Affairs Magazine-29-Jul-2013
Honourable Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of
Barbados, playing host to this meeting:
Honourable Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of
Saint Lucia, and President of CARICOM:
Honourable Prime Ministers of other member
countries of CARICOM:
Honourable Edwin Carrington, Secretary General
of CARICOM:
Distinguished heads of delegations, ministers
and special guests:
It is for me a source of special satisfaction
that we can meet again, this time in the land of Errol Barrow, who was a very
dear friend of Cuba. Three years have passed since we commemorated in Havana
the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba
and the four Caribbean countries that were then independent, a significant and
seminal event Cubans will never forget.
Throughout these years, the enormous challenges
our countries have faced, while trying to ensure the survival of our peoples,
have become more dramatic. The unilateral and selfish actions undertaken by
some of the most important trade partners of the Caribbean countries have
combined with the unprecedented incidence and magnitude of the devastating
hurricanes that have ravaged our region.
I think that there is today a clear
understanding that neo-liberal globalisation threatens the very existence of
our countries as independent nations.
The gap between the ever richer North and the
increasingly poor South widens at an accelerated pace, thus posing a permanent
threat to international stability.
What lays at the basis of most conflicts in our
times are the illegal wars of conquest and pillage, the destruction of the
environment and the depletion of natural resources, terrorism and local
conflicts and the illegal migration and drug trafficking, among others.
Actually, there is a veritable connection between the pervasive poverty and
marginalisation prevailing in the South countries and the policies of the
wealthiest and most developed nations on Earth that, with increasing
selfishness and arrogance, constantly make their riches grow while
impoverishing the Third World.
The access of many countries to international
markets is almost impossible. We are the victims of an international trade
system filled with tariff and non-tariff barriers, quotas, subsidies and
burdensome conditions. At the same time, we are forced to endure a hypocritical
discourse in favour of “free trade” by those who keep their markets closed for
us.
Our brothers in the CARICOM suffer in their own
flesh from the self-centred decisions of the European Union and the United
States, which impact adversely on their banana and sugar exports forcing them
to confront the arbitrary measures imposed by transnational companies in the
areas of tourism, aviation and others.
The rich industrial nations refuse to provide a
specialised and differential treatment to countries that, like the members of
CARICOM, not only require it but deserve it in their own right. They are
oblivious of their historical debt with our development and fail to deliver on
their promises; then, while demagogically talking of free markets, they plunder
our human resources and make us pay, once and again, an immoral debt which has
been paid several times over.
The European Union, forgetting its debt as a
former colonial power and the commitments entered through bilateral accords,
has unilaterally fostered a deep reform in the sugar and banana sectors that
afflicts the Caribbean countries. Cuba states its strongest solidarity with the
Caribbean countries and urges the Europeans to rectify a decision that will
force poverty and exclusion on tens of thousand of Caribbean families.
Excellencies:
Latin America and the Caribbean endure the
greatest disparity in income distribution on the planet. The HIV-AIDS pandemic,
that affects 2.4 million people, has become a serious problem for some
countries in our region.
On the other hand, threats grow and so does the
use of force. Unilateral coercive measures are constantly imposed on the
governments and peoples of the Third World while the principles enshrined in
International Law become dead letter.
Presently, the feverish consumerism of the rich
countries is leading to the alarming shortage of a vital source of non-renewable
energy in the world, that is, hydrocarbons, whose proven and unproved reserves
are depleted and whose market price, only within reach of the wealthy
societies, is inaccessible to the overwhelming majority of peoples in the Third
World.
The colossal wastage by consumerist societies
not only affects the world economy but it also poses a serious threat to the
environment.
How will our countries face the damages of the
next hurricane season, and those of the next ten years, and who will help us
pay for them?
How can we tackle the danger of extinction
resulting from global warming and the rising level of sea waters?
The unbridled race to waste the natural
resources of the planet will bring life to an end on Earth, but our small
island states will be the first to perish.
Cuba blames the rich developed countries, the
sumptuous consumerist economies and waste, for the aggravation of natural
disasters and their rate of recurrence in the Caribbean.
How shall we face these challenges, and the need
to survive and progress, in the midst of a deep economic, social, political and
environmental crisis afflicting our hemisphere and the world?
We should respond to the selfish neo-liberal
globalisation and the international anti-democratic political and economic
order with unity and with the globalisation of solidarity, the promotion of
dialogue, of integration and genuine cooperation.
Despite the blockade and its limited resources,
Cuba has followed this path to the extent possible, thanks especially to the
valuable human capital accumulated in these 45 years.
Today, 1,142 Cuban collaborators, almost one
thousand of them in the healthcare sector, are working in CARICOM countries.
Meanwhile, 1,957 youths, coming from 14 Caribbean countries, have graduated
from Cuban schools and at the moment, 3,118 others are training in 33 different
university and technical specialties.
Presently, 11 Caribbean countries are
participating in Operation Miracle and until yesterday, December 7, 10,502 of
its citizens had had surgery in Cuba, only in 4 months and 14 days, that is, at
a pace of 30 thousand patients a year.
We support the efforts of our Caribbean brothers
to consolidate their regional integration and, as always, Cuba is willing to
offer its modest contribution in those areas where that may be possible. The
peoples of the Caribbean community can always count on Cuba’s respect and
friendship.
Today, December 8, on the 33rd anniversary of
the establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba by Jamaica, Guyana,
Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, we reiterate our appreciation for the
unflinching solidarity of the Caribbean countries with Cuba, most recently
expressed through the unanimous Caribbean vote at the United Nations in favour
of lifting the 45-year-long blockade on our people, and we pay homage to the
memory of Eric Williams, Erroll Barrow, Forbes Burnham and Michael Manley.
Thank you very much.
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