GLOWING tributes continued to flow across the Caribbean, yesterday, on the passing of the highly respected Jamaica-born regional economist and passionate advocate for economic integration and unity, Dr Norman Girvan. He died on Wednesday in Cuba where he was receiving delicate emergency medical attention.The admirable 72-year-old intellectual, long-serving distinguished academic of the University of the West Indies, former Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and fervent collaborator with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), has been in a state of critical paralysis from injuries suffered from a fall some three months ago while hiking in Dominica.
Accompanied by his wife, Jasmin, Dr Girvan was flown from the private medical complex in St. Clair, Port-of-Spain, late last month to Havana where arrangements had been completed by the Cuban Government for intensive medical attention.
Girvan’s body is expected to be cremated in Cuba and the ashes taken to his native Jamaica and all campus territories of the UWI. A variety of programmes are being considered to facilitate paying of tributes to the life and work of the renowned scholar whose name is indelibly linked with efforts at promoting and sustaining regional economic integration and functional cooperation.
CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRocque, noted in his message of “deep sadness” that Girvan’s “life’s work was underlined by unremitting dedication to a vision of an integrated Caribbean…His ideas and ideals placed him in the upper echelons of Caribbean intellectuals…”
While actively involved in his academic commitments and cooperating with CARICOM on specific projects, Girvan was also serving as the Personal Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on the ongoing quest for peaceful resolution to the age-old boundary dispute pertaining to Venezuela’s claim to some two thirds of Guyana’s demarcated 83,000 square miles of territory.
By Rickey Singh