The 79th session of the organization served as a platform for the small islands to criticize the designation of the sister country as a sponsor of terrorism, and also to advance their position of support in the upcoming vote on a resolution that will once again call for the end of the economic, financial and commercial on Cuba.
The Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Terrance Drew, on behalf of Caricom said that year after year this body sends a strong message to the people of Cuba and against the blockade, considering it illegal and a stain on “our collective conscience”.
“St. Kitts and Nevis joins Caricom in calling for the end of this unjust blockade and for the removal of Cuba from the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism,” the leader said, defining Cuba as a friend of the Caribbean.
He highlighted the work of its doctors and educators, indicated that they exemplify true philanthropy and called instead of denigrating the island, to elevate and learn from its sustainable solutions that empowered its people and, in turn, the region.
Jamaica’s Foreign Minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, joined her voice in calling for the cessation of both U.S. policies against Havana, emphasizing the severe damage to the socio-economic well-being of the people and the obstacles they pose to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
His counterpart from Saint Lucia, Alva Baptiste, defended Cuba’s right to self-determination, highlighted the internationalist approach of its foreign policy and defined the U.S. siege as unjust, illegal and inhumane.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, demanded the lifting of U.S. coercive measures and stressed that the time has come to break the chains of obsolete policies, contrary to the current interconnection of the world and based on ideological differences.
The governor of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, denounced the collateral damage to the Caribbean caused by the hostility of the White House against Cuba, because it uses it as a weapon of the financial system.
Similar claims were also heard from the dignitaries of Barbados, Guyana and Suriname, and it is expected that the pronouncements will also continue when other Caricom leaders take the podium at the UN General Assembly between this Saturday and next Monday.
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