Prime Minister of DominicaRoosevelt Skerrit, defended this Friday the decision of the countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to request the end of the economic and commercial embargo of the United States against Cuba, according to the agency Eph.
Skerrit, upon returning to his country after an official trip to Cuba, where he received the Order of José Martí, the highest decoration awarded by the Government of Havana, had said at a press conference that the Caricom leaders planned to meet with the US Vice President, Kamala Harris, to explain that position. The meeting finally happened this Friday virtually.
On Friday, I along with other CARICOM heads of state held virtual talks with Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris @VP. We discussed a path forward to strengthening ties, climate change, security and several other issues of concern. pic.twitter.com/txmapXABzn
— Roosevelt Skerrit (@SkerritR) April 30, 2022
Regarding that meeting with Vice President Harris, the prime minister reported on his Twitter profile: “We discussed a way forward to strengthen ties, climate change, security and several other issues of concern.” Until now no further details known regarding possible references to the Cuban issue.
“This year will be the 50th anniversary of the beginning of relations between Caricom and Cuba, when the pioneers, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, challenged the international order of the time and established relations with Havana”, he had recalled in his Skerrit country, upon his arrival from Havana, according to the source.
“This is not an ‘un-American’ position, this is a matter of fairness and equity. That’s all,” Skerrit said, adding that the United Nations has repeatedly called for the embargo to be lifted over the past decade, with only Washington and Israel voting to keep it.
“If you take a survey of the United States, you will find that the majority of citizens say that this embargo should be removed. So it is an issue of injustice and the need for the Cuban people to have the opportunity to be part of the world system,” Skerrit said, quoted by the Spanish agency.
The Prime Minister of Dominica indicated that, despite the embargo, Cuba has been able to achieve significant milestones in areas such as health, science and disaster assistance to the countries of the region.
“Here, in the Caribbean, if Cuban doctors were eliminated from the health system of all the Caricom countries, they would collapse,” he warned.
Cuban government decorates the Prime Minister of Dominica with the José Martí Order
The United States embargo against Cuba prevents US companies and companies organized under the laws of that country or majority owned by citizens of the US territory from carrying out commercial transactions with Cuban interests.
Skerrit met during his two-day official visit to Cuba with the president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in order to strengthen the already solid bilateral ties.
Efe/OnCuba.
