Cuban Ambassador ‘excited’ about local media coverage
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Cuban Ambassador ‘excited’ about local media coverage.
SAINT Lucia, 28th May 2011.- Cuba’s Ambassador to St. Lucia, Lydia Gonzales Navarro, has praised the cooperation of the St. Lucia press over the years in promoting closer ties between the governments and people of St. Lucia and Cuba.
In an exclusive interview with The Voice in the wake of an informal session with local reporters and journalists to mark World Press Freedom Day earlier this month, the Ambassador said, earlier this week, that she was “very pleased that the local press has been showing a positive attitude  to Cuba, and I am also pleased that this level of positive and genuine interest is growing.”
Ambassador Gonzales Navarro said she was “particularly excited” that one local radio station taps into Radio Havana’s English service every day. She was referring to Caribbean Harmony, a new local FM station, which relays transmissions from Caribbean stations all day long, and features Radio Havana Cuba, in English, from 3pm every day.
Caribbean Harmony, operated by former Radio St. Lucia General Manager Lionel Ellis, also features a programme every Saturday at 10am dedicated to St. Lucia-Cuba relations, as well as information, culture and music of the two countries.
Ambassador Navarro said this week, “Not only me, but the Cuban volunteers on assignment here in the fields of medicine, sports, etc are also excited, because it also helps them with their English, and with a better understanding of St. Lucian culture, music and information about our two countries.”
“I think Caribbean Harmony is doing an interesting thing by giving its listeners a piece of information from as many Caribbean countries as possible, as the day goes by. It is a very interesting approach,” she said.
Caribbean Harmony is being increasingly listened to by the members of the local St. Lucia-Cuba association, as well as by former St. Lucian graduates from Cuba and persons who received medical attention through the Milagro eye care program that saw thousands of St. Lucians get free eye care in Cuba recently.
The Ambassador said she had been “well received by the press here” since she assumed duties earlier this year as the first woman ambassador appointed by Cuba to St. Lucia. “I told the members of the press who came to our small function that I am available to them to speak about anything because Cuba has nothing to hide. I also told them to feel free to contact me to arrange interviews with the directors of any of the areas of cooperation and assistance being offered by Cuba in St. Lucia,” she said.
Said the ambassador, “The local newspapers, including the Voice, have also been very cooperative, publishing our press releases and highlighting information about Cuba.”
“We are also pleased that the press covers all the activities organized by the Embassy and by the St. Lucia-Cuba Association, which also involve presentations and performances by the Cuban volunteers doing service here in St. Lucia.”
Ambassador Gonzales Navarro said she was pleased to have learned that it was through the Voice that “some very important information that was not known, and which could have disappeared, was made known to St. Lucians, and then to us in Cuba and the rest of the world, all thanks to The Voice of St. Lucia.”
She was referring to a front page article in the Voice in 1976, one month after the terrorist bombing of a Cubana plane off Barbados killing everyone on board, featuring a young man from Gros Islet who had found the Identification Card of the Captain of the plane, Wilfred Perez Perez, and taken it to the newspaper.
Said Ambassador Gonzales-Navarro, “That ID card and that article in the Voice played a role in opening the way for bringing the people of St. Lucia and Cuba closer, which was realized in the later years when our two countries established diplomatic relations, which we have continued to mutually enjoy ever since.”
She concluded, “I think the local media and the Caribbean media have an important role to play in bringing Caribbean people closer, and at our informal session earlier this month, I told the local media to tell their colleagues that Cuba appreciates their openness and their frankness, and that our Embassy will always be open to them for any information they may wish to discuss about Cuba and St. Lucia relations.” (Cubaminrex-Embacuba Santa Lucía)
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