Ivan Rodriguez

Santo Domingo, Dec 5 (RHC) Historic Dominican left-wing leader Ivan Rodriguez today highlighted the 50th anniversary of relations between Cuba and the first four independent Caribbean states: Jamaica, Guyana, Barbuda, Trinidad, and Tobago.

In statements to Prensa Latina, Rodriguez highlighted the importance of the visit being made by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel to several Caribbean countries, which will conclude in Barbados, the venue of the VIII Cuba-Caribbean Community (Caricom) Summit.

Those countries prove that the Caribbean is a sovereign territory and a zone of peace, which does not yield to blackmail and threats from any power.

The renowned Dominican fighter, one of the promoters of the Assembly of the Peoples of the Caribbean, pointed out that Cuba-Caricom relations "resulted in the multiplied friendship, exchange, and solidarity in their struggle against the criminal blockade imposed by the Northern nation ".

    "These are relations that unite peoples, that is why the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, in every event that affected any country or region of the world was among the first to send his medical brigades and medicines to offer help," he said.

He highlighted Fidel Castro’s creation of the Latin American School of Medicine, which "benefited many countries in our region. Thousands of students who received scholarships at that center have graduated and today are an important force in the defense of health".

The also leader of the Movimiento Patria para Todos (Homeland for All Movement) reiterated his commitment to Cuba today and always.

Caricom came into being on July 4, 1973, with the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas by 15 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Monserrat, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.