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blockade, to more overt rejections of the blockade. He wondered aloud that, while much is made of the fact that annually “all but two” countries vote against the blockade, the majority-dissenting states have failed to act decisively in ending the blockade. All in all, The UWI, Cave Hill one- day colloquium, Celebrating 50 years of Cuba-CARICOM Relations , was an important statement by The UWI of its commitment to wider regionalism and to public engagement. It was an activity that received the full blessing and support of the region’s state leadership and of the university leadership itself. Eternal gratitude to all who worked to make the colloquium a success, in particular, Ms. Teresacita Cox of the Department of Government, Sociology, Social Work and Psychology at Cave Hill who single-handedly managed all the day- to-day activities involved in organising a conference of this nature. May the work of the colloquium resonate across the Caribbean Sea in the weeks and months ahead until all the states of the region are free to pursue their own development options, free from interference by outside powers. l
Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles greets the President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
A nother clear outcome of the colloquium was the loud Isaac Saney , an historian at Dalhousie University in Canada, offered an informed account of the Biden administration’s stance on Cuba and a sound explanation for why President Biden had not kept his election promise to remove Cuba from the list of states sponsoring terrorism. Jomo Thomas , in turn, insisted that it was time to move beyond the symbolism of the annual exercise of votes in the United Nations General Assembly in opposition to the demand for the normalisation of global relations with Cuba. Dr.
areas of climate change impact mitigation, cultural exchanges; and the steps towards a multi-lingual Barbados, with fluency in Spanish being at the centre of this endeavour. In welcoming the President to The UWI, Sir Hilary, in his remarks, reiterated the commitment of the university to deepening the existing Memorandum of Understanding between The UWI and the University of Havana . He remarked that The UWI has a physical presence in the University of Havana by way of the Norman Girvan Centre for Caribbean Studies , over whose offices The UWI flag flies aloft. The Vice- Chancellor pledged the deep commitment of The UWI to work with Cuban academics in areas of mutual interest. Among the key outcomes of the colloquium was the proposal to rename the relationship to Cuba in CARICOM, rather than Cuba and CARICOM. That proposal was made by Dr. Jacqueline LaGuardia Mart í nez , a Cuban lecturing in international relations at The UWI, St. Augustine Campus. She did so by presenting a comprehensive review of existing areas of cooperation. She identified areas of strengths and weaknesses and suggested new areas which can be included based on the existing state of the global-political economy.
Members of the audience at the colloquium
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