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Solidarity with Cuba at this time is necessary
Dear Editor,
In December, 1972, at the age of twenty-two, I had just arrived in Havana, Cuba when four Caricom member states had the foresight and courage to agree to simultaneously establish diplomatic relations between their respective countries and the Republic of Cuba. The US attitude towards Cuba then, is no different than it is today.
The US-imposed economic blockade on Cuba since 1962 made it difficult in those days to get to Cuba. Save for Caribbean Airlines and COPA, travel to Cuba remains challenging to this day. The current fuel crisis will only compound the situation.
Traveling through several Latin American countries, I finally ended up in Santiago, Chile but was unable to secure a seat on the Lan Chile (now Latam) or Cubana Airlines that shuttled between Chile and Cuba due to the heavy traffic at the time of Salvador Allende’s Socialist Unity government. In the circumstances, I travelled to Mexico City and from there, I managed to arrive in Havana.
I arrived on the island thirteen years after the triumph of the Cuban revolution and eleven years after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion by anti-Castro mercenary forces. My mission in Cuba was to join an international voluntary brigade of young people from different countries to help construct a secondary school in Cuba.
One year in Cuba was sufficient enough for me to grasp the resilience and deep commitment of the Cuban people to the socialist cause to which the government and ruling communist party led by Fidel Castro was committed notwithstanding the economic difficulties the country was experiencing because of the blockade.
Cuba managed to survive the October 1962, missile crisis and the grinding socio-economic conditions of the embargo thanks to the tremendous assistance from the Eastern European socialist countries primarily the USSR as well as the creative and innovative economic and productive measures adopted by its government and people. When the Soviet Union and the socialist block of countries disappeared, Cuba depended on trade, it’s diplomatic prowess, agreements on technical and international cooperation with countries of the global south to press on with its socialist project. And although a Guyana-Cuba Joint Economic and Technical Cooperation Commission was established in 1975, it was Guyana who benefited more than Cuba from cooperation in areas such as agriculture, health, education, sport and culture, and maritime cooperation. All Cuba asked for was solidarity.
Cuba has never exported revolution. Nor has it ever engaged in, promoted nor sponsored international terrorism nor the drug trade. Rather, it helped freedom fighters in Angola; fought against apartheid in South Africa; helped build an international airport in Grenada; sent qualified medical personnel to many developing countries including Guyana; offered academic scholarships to students from countries including Guyana; and shared its technical experts in the sugar industry, fisheries, sports and culture.
The prevailing existential threat to Cuba notwithstanding, there is a silent national consensus amongst Guyanese that our country owes a huge debt of gratitude to Cuba for its generosity extended to thousands of Guyanese over the years.
That sense of pride and solidarity, part of the Guyanese national psyche, is characterized by a spirit of commitment, principle and generosity towards Cuba. It was fostered over the years by both the PPP and PNC respectively, in and out of government. It remains a powerful reason why solidarity with Cuba at this time is not only necessary but would be viewed as a demonstrable manifestation of support for a people who continues to struggle heroically and labour resolutely for the independence and sovereignty of their country.
Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee
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