Cuba Holds Gala to Mark Cuba-CARICOM Day CUBA, December 9th, 2010.- A gala entitled ‘La Raiz y el Tiempo’ was held on Thursday at the National Theatre, in the Cuban capital, on the occasion of the Cuba-CARICOM Day. The Cuban Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rogelio Sierra Diaz, said that when Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago started simultaneous diplomatic relations with Cuba, on December 8, 1972, it was a decisive action for breaking the isolation the United States tried to impose on the island, and noted that Cuba always maintained mutually beneficial solidarity and cooperation ties with the Caribbean countries during these past 38 years. The Cuban official added that today there area about 1,500 Cubans working in 14 countries in the Caribbean; 4,072 students from the region have graduated in the Island; and more than 3,191 are about to graduate this school year. Regarding Haiti, he issued a call for unity in difficult situations and for a commitment, on short and medium terms, to the development of this sister nation. The ambassador of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to Cuba, Dexter Rouse, extolled the relations of brotherhood between Cuba and the Caribbean, condemned the US economic blockade imposed on the Island, and demanded the release of the five Cuban antiterrorists unjustly imprisoned in the US since 1998. Rouse also defended the strengthening of South-South cooperation and added that all Caribbean countries have the same past and their future should be marked by unity and solidarity. Artists of Cuba’s National Folkloric Group offered a performance that included Yoruba dances and the characteristic rhythms of the Cuban identity. (Cubaminrex-Cuban News Agency) |