Cuba reiterates support for CARICOM

The Cuban Ambassador to Belize, Lissette Perez, says Havana will continue its cooperation programmes with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries as it embarks upon a new era in the election of 57-year-old Miguel Díaz-Canel as the new head of state.

Díaz-Canel was sworn in as the new president of the communist country earlier this week, replacing Raúl Castro who decided to bring to an end the Castro family's decades-long rule on the island.

In his inaugural speech, Díaz-Canel said that his mandate was “to ensure the continuity of the Cuban revolution at a key historic moment” and assured the members of the National Assembly that “the revolution continues its course”.

Perez said that “solidarity with others” has always been part of the principle of the Cuban Revolution.

“The welfare of our neighbours is also to share what we have with others, this is the spirit among Cubans but we also try to educate our young generation in this spirit, to share what we have with others because this is the only solution for the world.

And that is why we will continue our programme for cooperation with the region that for us CARICOM members are our priority for cooperation because it is our area.

“We share the Caribbean Sea, we have a lot of similarities, a lot of challenges and together we have to face these challenges. That is why we have to continue to offer our expertise, our scholarships, area of medicines, cooperation in same sectors and others. It depends on the necessity of our brothers and sisters of CARICOM but of course we will continue because this is, for sure, our spirit of solidarity that we will preserve,” the diplomat added.

Cuba and CARICOM will this year celebrate 46 years of diplomatic relations and last year they signed a trade agreement aimed at improving trade relations.