Friendship of great development

By Roberto Morejón

"We meet to embrace each other". This is what Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said when he received the 14 representatives of the Caribbean islands in Havana.

While in the largest of the Antilles they commemorated the 52nd anniversary of the establishment of relations, formalized when Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago took this step despite the US blockade, in St. George, capital of Grenada, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said in a statement that the relations with Cuba have become an example of South-South cooperation.

These were two sides of the celebrations for the continuity of relations considered beneficial and a sign of cooperation and solidarity.

The Cuba-CARICOM, Caribbean Community Day is celebrated every year on December 8, referring to the date when the four countries established formal relations.

The Cuban president took advantage of his meeting with the diplomatic representatives of the sister Caribbean islands to reaffirm the government's willingness to continue expanding relations.

The declaration was made despite the fact that the largest of the Antilles is experiencing significant material limitations, mainly due to the tightening of the U.S. blockade.

Cuba is also suffering the consequences of its inclusion in a unilateral list of countries that, according to the tenants of the White House, sponsor terrorism.

The leaders of the Caribbean countries have reiterated their rejection of this hostility against Cuba.

Against the backdrop of this aggressiveness, Cuba and the Caribbean are moving closer together, as the young Prime Minister of Grenada emphasized in his message, which he described as pride, that the friendship, solidarity and cooperation between Cuba and its neighbors have withstood the test of time.

Two aspects illustrate this appreciation: the presence of Cuban doctors in the Caribbean islands and the training of human resources, since the number of Caribbean youths trained in Cuba has reached more than six thousand.

Concerned that Cuba had been hit by two hurricanes and an equal number of earthquakes this year, CARICOM members were interested in how to work together in such difficult times.

The 47th Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, held in Grenada last June, had previously expressed concern about what it called the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Cuba as a result of coercive measures from abroad.  

Despite the tense international situation, Cuba and the Caribbean are preparing to continue working together in solidarity.