BY JULIE CARRINGTON | OCT 11, 2022
Minister with responsibility for Culture, Senator Dr. Shantal Munro-Knight. (FP)
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Culture, Senator Dr. Shantal Munro-Knight has added her voice to the calls for an end to the United States (US) trade embargo on Cuba.
She made the appeal last Thursday during the wreath-laying ceremony at the monument erected in Paynes Bay, St. James, in honour of those who lost their lives in the Cubana Airlines tragedy 46 years ago.
Senator Munro-Knight insisted that the embargo was in place for too long and there was no rationale for the blockade remaining in place.
“We as Barbadians, we as Caribbean people and citizens of the world with a space and with a voice must be able to say strongly, that we will not tolerate the injustice …. There is no rationale for the continued embargo of Cuba and as Barbados, Barbadians and as the government, we will continue to join with our CARICOM [Caribbean Community] brothers and sisters, to use our voice in whatever forum we have to say to the world it is wrong, and it should stop,” she contended.
The Minister continued: “Long live Cuba! Long live our friendship! Long live the commemoration of death in the story and the narrative that we will tell for generations to come! It tells us that we have not forgotten…. It tells us that as a country and a people that the emotionalism that we feel around those events, that we are intent also on not remembering them in a passive way, but remembering them in a way that ensures that they will never ever be repeated in the context of the societies and countries that we live in.”
She added that the attack showed how resilient the Caribbean was since Cuba’s relationship with the Caribbean was further strengthened after the incident.
Senator Dr. Munro-Knight pointed out: “There is a narrative of resilience that we need to be telling others. Not only in this country, but to the world. Cuba is a nation forging ahead in a global world that is still hostile, but it is doing so in a way that demonstrates strength and humility and everything that Cuba has given to the world and to the Caribbean, and it’s doing so in excellence.”
The Minister noted that despite limited resources, Cuba had a lot to offer the world and its regional neighbours, adding that it was one of the first countries to assist Barbados during the COVID-19 pandemic with the provision of nurses and doctors to aid in the fight.
Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Ambassador Dame Billie Miller and Ambassador of Cuba to Barbados, Sergio Pastrana, were among those paying tribute in honour of the fallen.
