• Key remarks by President Raúl Castro opening the Fifth CARICOM-Cuba Summit in Havana, December 8, 2014
Honourable Gaston Alphonse Brown, Prime Minister of
Antigua and Barbuda, and Chairman of CARICOM;
Honourable Heads of State or Government of CARICOM
member countries;
His
Excellency Irwin Larocque, Secretary General of
CARICOM;
His
Excellency Mr Didacus Jules, Director General of the
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States;
His
Excellency Mr Alfonso Múnera Cavadía, Secretary
General of the Association of Caribbean States;
Allow me to extend a warm welcome and to wish you
all a pleasant stay in our country.
It
gives us great pleasure to receive here the leaders
and representatives of the Caribbean family. We
share a common history of slavery, colonialism and
struggles for freedom, independence and development,
which is the melting pot where our cultures have
merged. We also face similar challenges that can
only be met through close unity and efficient
cooperation.
Photo: Juvenal Balán
Such
is the meaning and purpose of these summits held
every three years, and aimed at fostering and
strengthening our fraternal engagement in
cooperation, solidarity and coordination to move
towards the necessary Latin American and Caribbean
integration; a dream of the forefathers of our
independence deferred for more than 200 years, and
which is today crucial to our survival.
The
successful evolution of CARICOM, the involvement of
all its member states and Cuba with the Community of
Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the
Association of Caribbean States (ACS) as well as the
participation of some of us in the Bolivarian
Alliance of the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP)
and Petrocarib have helped to advance regional
integration, and we should continue working for its
consolidation.
Esteemed Heads of State or Government;
Guests;
Every year on this day we celebrate the anniversary
of the establishment of diplomatic relations with
Cuba by the first four nations of the Caribbean
Community to accede to independence.
As
comrade Fidel Castro Ruz stated at the commemoration
of the 30th anniversary of that seminal event,
“Probably, the leaders of these countries, also
considered the founding fathers of the independence
of their nations and of Caribbean integration,
–Errol Barrow from Barbados, Forbes Burnham from
Guyana, Michael Manley from Jamaica and Eric
Williams from Trinidad and Tobago—realised that
their decision to establish diplomatic relations
with Cuba was paving the way for the future foreign
policy of the Caribbean Community, which to this day
stands on three major pillars: independence, courage
and concerted action.” This statement remains fully
valid.
Forty-two years after that brave decision, we take
pride in our excellent relations with every country
in the Caribbean, and keep diplomatic missions in
every capital. And you also have diplomatic missions
in Havana; the most recent from St. Kits and Nevis
was officially opened last June 25th with our dear
friend the Very Honourable Prime Minister Denzil
Douglas in attendance.
This
moment seems fit to reaffirm that despite our
economic difficulties, and the changes undertaken to
upgrade our socioeconomic system, we will honour our
pledge to cooperate and share our modest
achievements with our sister nations in the
Caribbean.
Currently, we have 1,806 collaborators working in
the CARICOM countries, 1,461 of them in the area of
healthcare. Likewise, 4,991 Caribbean youths have
graduated in Cuba while 1,055 remain studying in the
Island.
Additionally, we are cooperating with the Caribbean,
and shall continue to do so, in preventing and
fighting the Ebola pandemic. This we are doing
bilaterally as well as in the framework of ALBA and
CELAC, with the support of the World Health
Organisation (WHO) and the Pan American Health
Organisation (PAHO).
The
experts’ meeting held in Havana at the end of
October brought together specialists from the entire
hemisphere, including representatives of
non-independent Caribbean states. In the past few
weeks, 61 officials, physicians, experts in
healthcare and other areas from CARICOMN countries
have been training in Cuba. On the other hand, we
are answering the request of nine CARICOM States to
provide Cuban assistance in training their
countries’ medical staff.
As
small island states and developing nations we are
facing the challenge of surviving and making
progress in a world shaken by a global economic
crisis manifested in the financial and energy
sectors, the environment and the food sector, deadly
diseases and war conflicts. Today, I want to
reiterate Cuba’s unwavering decision to support,
under any circumstances, the right of the small and
vulnerable countries to be accorded a special and
differential treatment in terms of access to trade
and investments.
The
challenges of the 21st century are forcing us to
unite in order to face together the effects of
climate change and natural disasters, to coordinate
our approach to the post-2015 development agenda,
and particularly, to tackle together the domination
mechanisms imposed by the unfair international
financial system.
We
join our voice to those of the Caribbean Community
in demanding the immediate removal of our nations
from unilateral lists that jeopardize our economic
development and commercial exchanges with other
countries.
Special attention is warranted by cooperation in
confronting the effects of climate change. The rise
of the sea level is threatening the very existence
of many of our countries. The more frequent
hurricanes, intensive rains and other phenomena are
causing huge economic and human damages. We are left
with no choice but to reinforce our coordination in
order to confront this reality and reduce its major
impact on water resources, coastal areas and marine
species; biological diversity, agriculture and human
settlements.
Cuba
has conducted studies of dangers, vulnerabilities
and risks and is already implementing a
macro-project named “Coastal Dangers and
Vulnerabilities 2050-2100”. These include projects
on the health condition of the coastal dunes and
mangroves as well as an evaluation of the beaches,
coastal settlements and their infrastructure; we are
willing to share this experience with our sister
nations of CARICOM.
We
have lots of work to do. As we have indicated, in
the coming three- year period, with the modest
contribution of Cuba, a Regional Arts School will be
opened in Jamaica and the Centre for Development
Stimulation of children, teenagers and youths with
special educational needs will start operating in
Guyana.
On
the other hand, more Caribbean students will be
given the opportunity to pursue a college education
in our country, especially in the area of Medicine.
We will also help in the preparation of experts from
the CARICOM countries in topics related to
mitigation and confrontation of risks of natural
disasters, and the difficult stage of recovery in
the aftermath of such events.
Likewise, we shall continue offering our fraternal
assistance in the development of human resources and
in medical care. In the same token, doctors
graduated in Cuba and working in their respective
countries will be offered the possibility of
studying a second specialty free of charge.
The
development of trade and investments between our
countries is still an unresolved issue. The
difficulties with air and maritime transportation in
the sub-region and the deterioration of our
economies as a result of the international crisis
are having a negative effect on progress in these
areas. We should work toward creative and feasible
solutions of benefit to all. In this connection, we
welcome the joint efforts to update and review the
Bilateral Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which
will provide the free access with no customs duties
of 297 products from CARICOM countries and 47 from
Cuba.
I
want to take this opportunity to reaffirm our
steadfast support for the just demand of the CARICOM
countries to be compensated by the colonial powers
for the horrors of slavery, and for their equally
fair claim to receive cooperation according to their
real situation and necessities, and not on the basis
of statistics of their per capita income that simply
characterise them as middle-income countries and
prevent their access to indispensable flows of
financial resources.
It
is our inescapable duty to support the
reconstruction and development of the sister
republic of Haiti, the birthplace of the first
revolution in Latin America and the Caribbean fought
in pursuit of independence, for we all have a debt
of gratitude with that heroic and long-suffering
people.
As I
have said on previous occasions, Cubans are deeply
grateful to our brothers and sisters in the
Caribbean for your upright stance of respect for and
solidarity with our Homeland.
We
shall never forget your enduring support to the
resolution against the blockade nor your numerous
expressions of solidarity during the debates at the
UN General Assembly and other international fora,
rejecting the illegitimate inclusion of Cuba in the
List of States Sponsors of Terrorism.
Distinguished Heads of State or Government;
Guests;
I
would like to suggest that in this 5th CARICOM-Cuba
Summit we exchange viable ideas and proposals to
continue working together to increase our bilateral
cooperation; to expand and diversify our economic
and commercial relations; to confront the challenges
imposed by the globalized, unfair and unequal world
we live in fraught with grave problems that threaten
the very existence of humankind; and, above all, to
advance with steadier steps toward the indispensable
political, economic and social integration of Latin
America and the Caribbean.
We
owe it to our peoples and such duty cannot be
postponed.
With
no further delay I declare the 5th CARICOM-Cuba
Summit officially opened.
Thank you.
December 09, 2014
