The Dominica-Cuba Friendship Association (DCFA) and the Gild of Cuban Graduates recognized and saluted the people of Cuba during their president Miguel Diaz-Canel’s visit to the Caribbean region for the 7th CARICOM-Cuba Summit.
The summit took place on Tuesday in Barbados in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel reiterated to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) his country’s interest in strengthening cooperation for development in specific areas of common interest with sister nations.
Diaz-Canel listed the most recent intraregional collaboration actions, which include the shipment of over 100,000 COVID-19 vaccines and other products from the Cuban biopharmaceutical industries, and ratified the offer of college scholarships for Caribbean students in health-related careers, which have a high impact on the processes of social development.
President of the Association, Dr. Damien Dublin, said in a statement that the Cuba CARICOM relations is a relationship that has over the years proven to be very beneficial to the Caribbean in terms of the development of its human resources and the exchange of medical personnel.
“We think this relationship will continue to grow and we want to use this opportunity to express our solidarity with Cuba as together we seek to get the 60-plus year inhumane embargo lifted,” he said.
“We also call for the removal of Cuba [from] the list of countries which sponsored terrorism. We are saying that Cuba has done only good to the world and the contribution to humanity during the COVID crisis,” Dublin said.
He expressed that the Cuban medical brigade has been performing tasks in Africa and in all parts of the world where they are needed.
The Dominica-Cuba Friendship Association also participated via zoom in a meeting with the president of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, (IICA), Fernando Gonzalez in which all the Cuba Friendship Associations expressed solidarity and exchanged ideas for improving the relationship with IICA and the rest of the Caribbean region.
“We also participated via zoom in an activity to celebrate these 50 years of the Cuba CARICOM relations, where a number of thematic areas were looked at, and the future of the relationship and how we can strengthen it,” he noted.
“We think this relationship will continue to grow and we want to use this opportunity to express our solidarity with Cuba as together we seek to get the 60-plus year inhumane embargo lifted,” he said.
The US has always maintained that the trade embargo formalized by the late President John F. Kennedy in 1962, is a US foreign policy issue. Talk is cheap, DCFA!