Repay Cuban generosity

05.SEPT.08

It is said that one good turn deserves another. By the same token, many good turns must at least trigger substantial generosity in return. St Vincent and the Grenadines has been the beneficiary of the tangible expressions of solidarity and support over the years, in times of disaster and in normal times. Such expressions have both enabled us to weather storms of the natural type as well as to boost our day-today development efforts.{{more}} Even though we have been extremely lucky to escape the worst effects of the storms that have battered the Caribbean these past years, we have not been totally immune, and contributions from friends near and afar have enabled us to get by with a minimum of dislocation and discomfort. In our worst hours, those after the eruption of the Soufriere volcano in 1979, it was regional and international solidarity which kept us afloat. Among them, donations which we were then reluctant or unable to accept.

Thus that spirit of solidarity and humanitarianism is a real one in our case. We have reciprocated in turn, notably as in the case of post-Ivan recovery in Grenada. Then, not just our government, but various sectors of our society, responded wholeheartedly in support of the Grenadian people. That level of generosity is once more needed as a succession of storms batter the northern Caribbean. Haiti and Jamaica have been badly hit, and damage has been considerable in the Dominican Republic. Cuba has taken a beating from hurricane winds which gusted to over 200 miles an hour. Western Cuba and the Isle of Youth were particularly hard hit, with retired Cuban President Fidel Castro likening the Isle of Youth to the scene in the Japanese city, Hiroshima, after it had been devastated by a US nuclear bomb.

Haiti and Jamaica are sister members of CARICOM with us, the Dominican Republic is enjoined in the EPA pact with CARICOM, with our country and its neighbours. In Cuba’s case, St Vincent and the Grenadines has reaped benefits amounting to tens of millions in the field of health, education and now infrastructure (the international airport project). We, today, have a whole cadre of Cuban trained professionals and hundreds who have clear vision as a result of the “Vision New” programme.

Yet we have given precious little in return. Even the time to attend a Cuban solidarity event seems too sacrificial for those who have been saved hundreds of thousands in school fees that they would ordinarily have had to pay for their education. Can expressing solidarity with Cuba be more than we, multiple beneficiaries, can afford?

In the hour of need of our northern neighbours, let us remember our brothers and sisters in Haiti, Jamaica, The Dominican Republic and Cuba. Never let it be said that ingratitude or selfishness is a part of the Vincentian character. Let us make an effort to repay the generosity extended to us.