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and the Cuban Embassy in Barbados in organising the one-day colloquium. The high point of the activity, however, was that the Cuban President Díaz-Canel himself thought it important enough to deliver remarks at the opening session, and equally importantly, the Prime Minister of Barbados Honourable Mia Amor Mottley and the UWI Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles lent their authoritative voices to the activity. President Díaz-Canel thanked the leaders and people of the region for their steadfast support and bravery throughout the years of the Cuban revolution, and he recognised the work of Caribbean academics in standing with Havana throughout the years. He remarked on the beauty of the campus, the warmth and spirituality of the Caribbean people, and he appeared genuinely pleased to participate in the colloquium, jokingly remarking that he will include on his curriculum vitae that he had taken part in a seminar at The UWI. For her part, Prime Minister Mottley thanked President Díaz-Canel for the years of support provided by Cuba in the areas of health care and education, and she reiterated many of the main successes achieved at the previous day’s summit. They included efforts at cooperation in the
economics graduates Peter Lansiquot, St. Lucia’s Ambassador to Mexico, Venezuela, and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and Michael Heslop, Associate Professor of Economics at Northern Virginia Community College , USA; Barbados’s Ambassador to Cuba, Philip St. Hill; and Barbadian social historian, author and media personality, Dr. Sharon Marshall. Another key feature of the panel composition was the large number of long-standing, pro-Cuban political activists from all over the Caribbean who had been involved with the youth and student movements from the early 1970s, and who agreed to participate in the colloquium as a show of gratitude and solidarity with Cuba. These included Earl Bousquet of St. Lucia; David Abdulah, Leader of the Movement for Social Justice in Trinidad and Tobago; Dr. Terence Marryshow, a Cuban-trained medical practitioner and Founder of the Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement of Grenada; David Denny, a Barbadian social activist; and Jomo Thomas, an attorney and former Speaker of the House of Assembly of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Most importantly, however, was the participation in the opening panel of Fernando González, one of the “Cuban Five”, that is, five Cuban intelligence officers who were arrested in Miami and subsequently convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, acting as an agent of a foreign government, and other illegal activities in the United States. He offered a strong statement calling for the end of the blockade and for the removal, by the US, of Cuba from the list of states which have been declared as sponsors of terrorism. The colloquium represented a determined effort on the part of CARICOM citizens to show as much reverence as their Cuban counterparts for the observance of CARICOM-Cuba Day on 8 December. Unlike the people of the
English-speaking Caribbean, Cuba has always marked the day with a sense of seriousness of purpose and historical understanding. I recall visiting Cuba for the first time 20 years ago, as a young attaché to the Prime Minister of St. Lucia, to mark the 30 th anniversary of CARICOM-Cuba diplomatic relations. What struck me immediately was the fact that, while the event passed unnoticed in the English- speaking Caribbean, upon arriving in Cuba, it was as if the entire country was mobilised around the meaning of the date for the fate of the revolution itself. I was moved by the respect and gratitude of the Cuban people for the four CARICOM pioneer leaders and for their innate understanding of the implications of their decision for the development of the whole Caribbean. Thankfully, in the intervening years, the English-speaking Caribbean has seen the emergence of several vanguard grass- roots organisations and state leaders who can now join with the Cuban Government and people in seizing on the significance of the 8 December 1972 establishment of diplomatic relations, as a springboard from which to propel the joint futures of Cuba and CARICOM. It is for these reasons that the 50 th Anniversary CARICOM-Cuba Summit
held in Bridgetown on 6 December represented such an important occasion for the setting of new vistas in CARICOM- Cuba relations. And it was for similar reasons that The UWI’s Department of Government, Sociology, Social Work and Psychology agreed to work with the Barbados-Cuba Friendship Association , the Caribbean Chapter of the International Network in Defense of Humanity ,
(from left) Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley; President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel; Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles; and Principal of Cave Hill Campus, Professor Clive Landis
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