Baptiste: It’s time to give back to Cuba

Obviously ecstatic about her recent trip to Cuba, Culture Minister Rene Baptiste said that it was time for Vincentians to “give back to Cuba.”

While in Cuba, Baptiste signed the “Agreement on Cultural Exchange and Cooperation between the Ministry of Urban Development, Culture, Labour and Electoral Matters of SVG and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cuba”.{{more}} She said the document would now guarantee greater sharing and solidarity between the two countries.

The culture minister said that Cuba has been a country which has been extremely generous, with many Vincentians earning their degrees free of cost, but it was time for Vincentians to return the favour.

She said one of the ways to return that kindness to Cuba was to showcase this country’s heritage and she hoped to one day take a Vincentian delegation to Cuba to showcase the splendor of Vincy Mas. Minister Baptiste also expressed the wish that some of this country’s literary works on the heritage of this country would be translated into Spanish so that many Cubans could learn about St Vincent and the Grenadines.



Baptiste, who was accompanied by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture Andreas Wickham, reported that she toured numerous institutions which dealt with visual arts, ballet, and theatre among other things and was impressed by the drive of the Cuban people to succeed and keep their heritage alive.

Also being the Minster of Electoral Affairs and Labour, Baptiste visited Cuba’s Labour Department where aspects of Social Security were looked into.

Minister Baptiste at the Press conference, which was held at the Ministry of Culture conference room on May 2, spoke about her visit to Venezuela where she signed the “ALBA Cultural Fund Agreement of Intent” on March 24.

The Venezuela meeting was attended by cultural ministries of Antigua, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Venezuela so that the various parties could recognize the enormous cultural wealth and the potential for development amongst the countries.

Article five of the Agreement states, “The ALBA Cultural Fund shall become the seed that will grow into the construction of principles and actions pertaining to public policies on culture in each of the signatory states, with a special emphasis on youth and children.”