The Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, asked the United States not to interfere in the international humanitarian mission in Cuba, whose president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, was visiting the country this Monday.
“I make this plea to my American brothers and sisters. Leave Cuba alone in its internationalist humanitarian mission. I dare say that since the dawn of civilization there is no country in the world, nor people, that has been as self-sacrificing as Cuba. revolutionary,” said leftist Gonsalves, known as Comrade Ralph in the country.
The prime minister, in power since 2001, maintains close relations with the US and Taiwan, although he did not hesitate on Monday to criticize Washington for speaking of “human trafficking” when referring to Cuba’s sending of medical personnel to other countries, such as Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
“If you want to be endeared in that way, please support a program of Americans to provide a similar service to countries like ours.”
“We request from time to time the help of the Cuban government and people, and they come to us willingly, and the United States must stop this lie,” he stressed.
“If you want to be endeared in that sense, support a program of Americans to provide a similar service to countries like ours,” Gonsalves added.
The prime minister emphasized that, although his country has a friendly relationship with the US, he will not “embrace its follies and nonsense” which, in his opinion, are not based on “any logic or common sense.”
Díaz-Canel visited on Sunday a medical center that has Cuban professionals in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the first stop on his tour of several Caribbean countries. The Modern Medical and Diagnostic Center in Georgetown, officially opened on July 2, 2018, was built with the help of Cuba and several Cuban doctors are on its staff.
“The affection and recognition towards our cooperators is palpable,” Díaz-Canel said in a message on Twitter after taking a tour of the facilities with Gonsalves.
His three-day official visit culminated in a special session of the House of Assembly in which Díaz-Canel praised the country and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) group for their support to end the embargo.
“Cuba does not feel alone. Every day we receive encouragement and support from friendly peoples and governments that express their solidarity and you are an example of a small nation that continually embraces us”
“Cuba does not feel alone. Every day we receive the encouragement and support of friendly peoples and governments that express their solidarity to us and you are an example of a small nation that continually embraces us with gestures of generosity,” said the Cuban president.
Likewise, Díaz-Canel highlighted the work of Gonsalves, for “his firm support for the Cuban claim to end the US blockade, something that is manifested every year in the United Nations with the unwavering support for a resolution that condemns that cruel policy “.
In this sense, he described as “an act of courage by the Caribbean nations” to develop diplomatic relations with Havana 50 years ago, which marked the beginning “of the end of a policy of isolation that some tried to impose against Cuba.” For Díaz-Canel, “the Caribbean family is small in dimension but enormous in dignity.”
For his part, Gonsalves thanked Díaz-Canel for becoming the first Cuban leader to visit Kingstown, affirming that the people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines seek to defend their “sovereignty, independence and right to self-determination.”
The Cuban president later arrived in Barbados, where he will participate in the VIII Caricom-Cuba Summit, and will continue to Grenada. His arrival at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Bridgetown has been widely covered by the official press, which has highlighted his “respectful, loving, exemplary relationship” with the island, where Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley was waiting for him.
The presence of the latter is related to the agreement signed between the Cuban pharmaceutical company and ExportBarbados to increase the exchange of vaccines and medicines
Cuba arrives with a large delegation to the country, made up of the foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, and the heads of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz; of Public Health, José Angel Portal Miranda, and of Science, Technology and Environment, Elba Rosa Pérez Montoya, in addition to the president of BioCubaFarma, Eduardo Martínez Díaz.
The presence of the latter is related to the agreement signed between the Cuban pharmaceutical company and ExportBarbados to increase the exchange of vaccines and medicines.
“I do not know where we would be today without the Cuban medical brigade that for the last two years has worked to confront the covid-19 pandemic in our country (…) and I would not know where we would be in a year if we do not continue to maintain the collaboration of Cuban nurses, because our health system needs this additional support,” added the prime minister.
Havana and Bridgetown want to increase their cooperation also in tourism, sports, agriculture, the environment, education and transportation, both parties announced yesterday.
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