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Following is the full text of the Motion:
Madam Speaker, it is with a great sense of pride that I stand today on behalf of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government to present this Motion celebrating the 40th Anniversary since we established diplomatic relations with Cuba.
Unfortunately the distinguished Ambassador of Cuba to Guyana, His Excellency Raul Gortazar Marrero cannot join us today but he sends his best wishes. He has been a victim of the flu. We wish him a speedy recovery. I would also like to welcome Mr. Halim Khan, Vice President of the Guyana-Cuba Friendship Association.
Madam Speaker, Colleagues of the National Assembly, it is not very often that our National Assembly meets to consider relations with another country in this manner: By way of Motion. We enjoy excellent relations with many countries, and for that, we are appreciative. However, for the Government and people of Guyana, this island state of approximately 11 million resilient people is not just a good and consistent friend to Guyana; this humanitarian giant called Cuba is indeed special.
Madam Speaker, while diplomatic relations with Cuba was established on the 8th December 1972, the Peoples Progressive Party’s (PPP) relationship with Cuba started close to two decades before that. Indeed, our relations began following the Cuban Revolution in 1959 under Dr Cheddi Jagan, who desired to pursue a political and commercial relationship with Cuba.
Madam Speaker, it was under Dr. Jagan’s leadership in 1961 that we exported rice to Cuba, representing 6 per cent of all our exports. Madam Speaker, your good self and the National Assembly are aware of the pressures of this period.
This act of trade, therefore, made us one of the first countries to break the economic blockade. Cuba, in turn, provided cement and oil (oil which they received from the Soviet Union) I am advised.
Madam Speaker, it will be remiss of me if I did not recognize that the political fortunes, or indeed the political misfortunes of the PPP, which was engineered by forces in foreign lands, including the removal and prevention of the PPP from returning to Government, had a lot to do with the principled and good relationship we enjoyed with Cuba and the fact that we shared similar ideas on what we wanted for our people.
Stephen G. Rabe, an American historian, in his book “The US Intervention in British Guyana” had this to say: Page 80 and 81.
“The John F. Kennedy administration tried to prevent Cheddi Jagan and the PPP’s August 1961 electoral victory. With the Cold War coming to the Western Hemisphere in the form of the Cuban Revolution, the Kennedy administration would accept only those Western Hemisphere governments that unequivocally denounced communism and assented to US foreign policy positions. “’
He went on to say:
“In the case of British Guiana, the president’s actions also belied his rhetoric about respecting nationalism. Kennedy saw Jagan and the PPP through the prism of revolutionary Cuba.’’
Notwithstanding our small size as a country, it was felt by the Attorney-General of the United States, Robert F. Kennedy that what happened in British Guiana might determine the future of South America. He said the country was small, but so was Cuba, and ‘’it caused a lot of trouble.’’
Madam Speaker, there was a certain degree of paranoia during this period (1961) by US officials as far as it relates to Cuba and British Guiana – 1961. Stephen Rabe spoke about these as well. I would like to quote what he said as it relates to Governor Grey and his investigations. “He investigated alarms sounded by US officials. In February 1962, for example, US Consul Everett Melby relayed intelligence that a Cuban vessel, the Bahia de Santiago de Cuba, carrying fifty tons of arms, had docked in Georgetown’s harbor. Grey ordered his security personnel to board the vessel. They found secondhand printing machinery on board. The ship left Georgetown after loading the rice that British Guiana’s farmers had sold to Cuba. In another case, Cubans allegedly deposited an arms cache on the western coast of Venezuela, more than 1,000 miles from Georgetown. US officials suggested this Cuban aggression threatened British Guiana. Grey responded “Do people who send out these reports look at maps?’’ Page 78 – US Intervention in British Guiana – a Cold War Story. Of course anyone with minimal knowledge of Guyana will know where 1000 miles off Venezuela will place you.
The man himself, who was the main subject during this period, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, in his book The West on Trial (Page 248), spoke about the assistance Cuba provided to us. He quoted from an article written by a US columnist Drew Pearson. The article was titled, ‘Castro and Jagan’, and I quote as follows:
“The United States permitted Cuba to go Communist purely through default and diplomatic bungling. The problem now is to look ahead and make sure we don’t make the same mistake again. We are already on the way to making it in Haiti. But in British Guiana, President Kennedy, having been badly burnt in the Bay of Pigs operations, did not look ahead.
Though it was never published at the time, this was the secret reason Kennedy took his trip to England in the summer of 1963. He had promised Premier Fanfani and Chancellor Adenauer to go to Rome and Bonn, but London was added to the itinerary only because of Kennedy’s haunting worry that British Guiana would get its independence from England in July, 1963, and set up another Communist Government under the guidance of Fidel Castro.”
Dr. Jagan continued to speak about Cuba in relation to the strike of this period which was called by the TUC and backed by the US controlled organisations. ‘’Without their help of nearly $100,000 per week for strike relief, the strike would have collapsed in a couple of weeks. And without the help of the Cuban government which supplied us with kerosene and gasoline, we would have been forced out of office. – When he Cuban tanker arrived, there was only one day’s supply left in the storage tanks of the Electricity Corporation, and the emergency supplies of the police were running low.”
But lest I be accused of quoting from books and not official documents, I have in my possession documents now declassified by the US Government, written by US officials at the time which prove that Dr. Cheddi Jagan and the PPP was deliberately kept out of office because the US Government was afraid that Guyana will become another Cuba.
In a Memorandum from the Deputy Director of current Intelligence, Richard Lehman to the Deputy Director for Intelligence Cushman of Washington dated June 17th, 1969, Mr. Lehman in making a case for the continuation of financial support to the political party in office at that time in Guyana, had this to say:
“It is probably too late to call the operation off, but it is getting damned expensive. The best result we can hope for will be the continuation of something like the present shaky coalition, maintained in power by fraudulent means, and as paralyzed as ever by Negro-East Indian enmity.
“On the other hand, if we do not put up the money we will eventually be faced–but probably not for three or four years–with an English speaking Communist state in this hemisphere. In fact, even with funding at this level we may not be able to prevent such an outcome, or at least a bloody little mess which will require forceful intervention from outside. The question is therefore whether to spend the money in the hope of not saddling the next administration with “another Cuba.” [signed] RICHARD LEHMAN, Deputy Director of Current Intelligence)
I am proud, Madam Speaker, that notwithstanding the pressures and difficulties of that period and thereafter, the PPP never wavered.
Madam Speaker, the situation at that time – 1969 – was one where several of the countries in the English-Speaking Caribbean had just attained Independence and the leaders of that era- their Excellencies Forbes Burnham, Eric Williams, Michael Manley and Errol Barrow were no doubt wary of following the dictates’ of foreign lands.
Indeed, Madam Speaker, they were on the threshold of shaping their own destiny and eager to make their mark in their newly independent countries. And so it was for Prime Minister Forbes Burnham who was Prime Minister at the time of Guyana’s Independence from Great Britain. So even as the Cold War dominated the geopolitical realities of the early 70’s, there was a sense of political and economic hope, bounded nevertheless by the constraints of small size and limited capacity.
Madam Speaker, the enthusiasm that Independence brought also saw greater participation and leadership by the newly independent Caribbean States in international affairs. During this time the Non-Aligned Movement, the Caribbean Community (in the form of CARIFTA at the time) the African Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP) and the Lome Agreement were evolving while oil prices created many difficulties for both developing and developed nations. Guyana was hosting the first major meeting of the Ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement in August, 1972. It would be the first international meeting in the western hemisphere outside the realm of the United Nations following Commandante Fidel Castro’s Revolution. Cuba was already suspended from the Organisation of American States (OAS) as of 1962.
While these developments were taking place the United States of America was keeping a watchful eye on Guyana conducting their assessments and making predictions on what positions Guyana under Forbes Burnham will take in international fora.
In a TELEGRAM dated May 1970. Report titled “Whither Guyana under Burnham: Implications for US” from the US Embassy in Guyana to the Secretary of State in Washington said:
“Undoubtedly Guyana will be less prone in the future to support automatically western initiatives in international forums and it may well oppose the west on some key issues, including Cuba given the right circumstances. Yet Burnham is smart enough and realistic enough to know the perils of going too far and will attempt to steer a thoroughly uncommitted course. He will also, of course, attempt to lead the countries of the English-Speaking Caribbean along a similar route.”
They figured that Prime Minister Burnham knew the ‘perils of going too far’’ and thought that the support that they were providing to him to keep Dr. Jagan out of office would deter him from going the Cuba route. However, discussions had already commenced between Guyana and Cuba for the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Madam Speaker, Guyana courageously extended an invitation to Cuba to attend the Non-Alligned Movement Meeting in August 1972 in the face of rabid anti-Cuba sentiment in the hemisphere.
Indeed, Madam Speaker, I have had the benefit of speaking with my one of my predecessors Mr. Rashleigh Jackson who was Permanent Secretary at the time at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He told me that discussions with Cuba were held prior to the NAM Meeting and it was hoped by Cuba that the announcement of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Guyana and Cuba would have been made at the NAM Meeting.
However, to use the words of Sir Shridath Ramphal, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana at that time, “We were already skating on thin diplomatic ice.” It was therefore felt that given the pressures that existed it would be prudent for Guyana to recruit the other independent English-Speaking Caribbean nations and so Guyana invited Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago- the other three independent states at the time – to join in this endeavour.
Following the NAM Meeting of Foreign Ministers, contact was made by Prime Minister Burnham with his colleagues Prime Ministers Eric Williams, Errol Barrow and Michael Manley. These discussions were followed up with visits by my predecessor Sir Shridath Ramphal.
Then came the Declaration of the Seventh Heads of Government Conference of Commonwealth Caribbean Countries in October 1972 which stated that ‘’The four independent countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean will seek early establishment of relations with Cuba, and to this end will act together on the basis of agreed approaches.’’
Madam Speaker, evidently those discussions went very well as four months later on the 8th December 1972 the English-speaking Caribbean “diplomatic embargo” was broken when Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago together established full diplomatic relations with Cuba. Simeon Neville Selman, Guyana’s acting High Commissioner to Canada and Oliver Jackman signed the Agreement for Guyana and Barbados in Ottawa with the Cuban Ambassador, Jose Fernandez.
Madam Speaker, while the PPP was not in Government at the time, we fully supported the position taken by the Government. Indeed we were elated with this development since as I mentioned before our relations with Cuba started a long time before. Madam Speaker, Cuba now has diplomatic relations with more than 190 countries and institutions including all 14 independent CARICOM countries. Indeed the Heads of Government of CARICOM in December 2002 agreed to designate the 8th of December – the date the four States established diplomatic relations – as Cuba/CARICOM Day – and for the Heads of Government of CARICOM and Cuba to meet every three years.
Madam Speaker, Guyana has consistently supported Cuba in the hemisphere and beyond. It has voted year after year in the United Nations for the removal of the unjust economic blockade imposed by the United States of America. We took part in the decision to have Cuba in the Rio Group. In 2009 we actively supported the rescission of Cuba’s suspension from the Organization of American States which was imposed in 1962.
Madam Speaker, with the advent of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations (CELAC) where Cuba is a full member, we congratulate Cuba as she takes leadership of the organization from Venezuela.
Madam Speaker, we did all of this not only because Cuba is a good friend to us, not only because Cuba has provided our country with immeasurable assistance, not only because we have stood together in good times and bad: We supported Cuba in all of these areas mentioned because it was the right and principled thing to do. Guyana will continue to stand in solidarity with Cuba and to extend its support and friendship to this great Nation.
Madam Speaker, Cuba remembers the act of solidarity and courage shown by Guyana and the other three independent countries in 1972. It has consistently forged and strengthened its relations with Guyana through cooperation agreements in the areas of health, education, culture, sport and agriculture among others.
We have been receiving Cuban Medical personnel since 1978. They have provided healthcare and services to Guyanese at home and to those who have travelled to Cuba for specialist treatment at little or no cost. I am sure that almost every Guyanese can identify with at least one Cuban or Cuban trained professional.
Guyana has benefited from more than hundreds of scholarships with the majority being in medicine. Indeed Madam Speaker, Guyana has the largest contingent of scholarship students from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) studying in Cuba. The Operation Milagro Program and the three Diagnostic Centers in different regions of Guyana perhaps best illustrate the value of our relationship.
Madam Speaker, to say that Cuba’s generosity to Guyana is only because of the bold position our country took in 1972 would be rather uncomplimentary to this great Nation. This country that has an ongoing economic blockade by the United States for just over five decades is a friend to the entire developing world. Since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, 27,000 professionals from 119 countries have graduated from Cuban institutions. Of this total 5,000 are from the Caribbean of which 554 are Guyanese.
This National Assembly (and of course Guyana) has been a beneficiary. We have with us today Dr. Jennifer Westford and Dr. George Norton who received their medical degrees in Cuba. Currently there are 24,000 foreign students studying in Cuba of which 3,000 are from the Caribbean and 757 are Guyanese. This is no easy feat for a country with an economic embargo. But as I said before the Cuban people are a resilient people and altruism is characteristic of them.
But Madam Speaker, Colleagues, to speak about Cuba, its achievements, its resilience, its focus on human development and the immeasurable assistance it has given to sister countries and its place in the international community, cannot be done without paying tribute to the visionary, determined, revolutionary behind it all, Commandante Fidel Castro Ruiz.
The achievements have been many but one area that stands out is that of health. In the August 2010 issue of the magazine Foreign Affairs an article titled “Will lifting the Embargo make things Worse?” written by Laurie Garrett had to admit that Cuba is a World Leader in the area of Health. ’Under the Castro’s brothers’ rule, Cubans life expectancy has increased from 58 years in 1950 to 77 years in 2009.’’
The article went on to say: “According to the WHO Cuba has the second lowest child mortality rate in the Americas (the US places third) and the lowest per capita HIV/AIDS.’’
Today, as we pay tribute to our relations with Cuba, let us also pay tribute to Commandante Fidel not only for what he has done for Guyana, but also for humanity at large. We must also tribute to his brother, President Raul Castro Ruiz, for his leadership of the Cuban people and continued support to Guyana. We wish them both long life and good health.
Through you, Madam Speaker, let me say to the Government and people of Cuba: “Guyana values greatly our relationship over these 40 years of diplomatic relations, and the bonds of friendship which we enjoyed even before that.
“We express our gratitude for all the assistance you have given to us over these many years, especially in the area of human development. We will continue to advocate for the end of the economic blockade against your country.
“We wish President Raul Castro Ruiz and the people of Cuba every success as we continue to work for the benefit of our peoples.
Spanish translation of the above paragraph: “Guyana valora mucho nuestra relación durante estos cuarenta (40) años de relaciones diplomáticas y de los lazos de amistad que gozamos incluso antes de eso.
“Expresamos nuestra gratitud para toda la asistencia que se nos ha dado durante estos años especialmente en el área del desarrollo humano.
“Continuaremos a abogar por el cese del bloqueo económico contra su país. Deseamos al Presidente Raul Castro Ruiz y los pueblos Cubanos muchos éxitos mientras continuamos a trabajar en beneficio de nuestros pueblos.
Muchas gracias a Cuba.
¡Viva Cuba! ¡Viva Guyana!
