Cuban medical brigade travels to Grenada & Suriname to tackle COVID-19

Source:  Cuban News Agency

March 20 2020

Cuba’s Central Unit of Medical Collaboration reports that their medical professionals working around the world remain free of Covid-19. Photo: Nuria Barbosa

Cuban medical brigade travels to Suriname to tackle COVID-19

A brigade from the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics, staffed by 51 professionals, traveled today to Suriname to combat COVID-19, an infectious disease affecting almost all countries in the world and causing more than 11,000 deaths.

During the departure official ceremony, Dr. Francisco Sanchez, specialist in General Comprehensive Medicine and head of the brigade, read the oath emphasizing they will work to comply with the measures and protocols established for the control and strict epidemiological surveillance of COVID-19.

They will also offer Cuban experiences in the organization and execution of the plan to face the new coronavirus and stop the epidemic.

This brigade will work in a hospital in the Caribbean country where they will share experiences with national specialists in midst of the strategy to prevent and contain the global pandemic.

Cuban nurses from the health brigade Henry Reeve travel to Grenada to tackle COVID-19

The Cuban brigade, composed of five nursing professionals, specialists in intensive care, of the Henry Reeve Contingent, which will depart for Granada to fight the new coronavirus COVID-19, was bid farewell this Friday in Havana.

Marcia Cobas, deputy head of the Health Ministry (MINSAP by its Spanish acronym); Ana Teresita Gonzalez, first deputy minister of the Cuban ministry of foreign trade and foreign investment and Jorge Juan Delgado Bustillo, director of the medical collaboration unit, among others, attended the farewell ceremony.

On behalf of the group, Lic. Laritza Verdecia ratified the commitment with the country and with the public health ministry.

We are leaving with the firm conviction that everything we do to stop the epidemic will ratify what Commander in Chief Fidel Castro reiterated many times, that a better world is possible, and we will demonstrate once again the altruism, humanism and solidarity of Cuban medicine.

For her part, Marcia Cobas emphasized that more than 60 percent of the Cuban collaborators are women and highlighted the praiseworthy example of the Cuban women, who offer solidarity to countries that request it in any circumstance.

You have a crucial mission: to take care of yourselves, to comply with prevention measures and to work intensely together with the rest of the Cuban brigade to achieve the results expected by the people of Grenada and Cuba, she concluded.

 

Several Caribbean Nations Reject Pompeo’s Visit to Jamaica

Source:  TeleSUR
January 21 2020

Prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne | Photo: Reuters

The Caribbean nations are standing in defiance of Pompeo’s attempts to split up the region and isolate friendly countries. 

The Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley recently announced that her country was not sending their Foreign Minister to Jamaica in order to attend a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

RELATED:  Barbados Celebrates the 53rd Anniversary of Its Independence

Mottley, citing Barbados’ commitment to remaining neutral and non-aggression towards other nations, said her government would not take part in the U.S.’ attempts to divide the Caribbean region.

“I am conscious that when Errol Barrow stood and remarked that ‘we shall be friends of all and satellites of none,’ little did he know that that statement would be embraced by every single Prime Minister of government that succeeded him. It is as valid today, perhaps even more so than it was at the time of its initial delivery, Mottley said.

“As chairman of CARICOM, it is impossible for me to agree that my Foreign Minister should attend a meeting with anyone to which members of CARICOM are not invited. If some are invited and not all, then it is an attempt to divide this region,” Mottley added.

Related:  CELAC: The time has come for the region to walk in close ranks

Barbados will not be alone, however, as two more Caribbean nations have joined them in boycotting the upcoming Pompeo meeting.

Trinidad and Tobago

According to a new statement from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, their government support Barbados’ position and will not send a representative to meet with Pompeo in Kingston, Jamaica.

The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Keith Rowley, said Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley has his country’s support.

“PM Mottley has the full support of the Government and the people of Trinidad and Tobago in outlining our principles and vision of Caribbean unity. In the expectation of Caribbean unity, the Prime Minister of Barbados speaks for Trinidad and Tobago,” said Prime Minister Rowley.

Grenada

Also joining Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago is Grenada, who vowed to not attend this meeting that seeks to divide the Caribbean.

The U.S. has used the Caribbean as a way to isolate countries like Venezuela and Cuba, as the shipping lanes to these two nations have been blockaded by them.

Related:  Time to re-visit Michael Manley’s path — A vision for Jamaica

Remembering Maurice Bishop and Grenada’s Revolution

Source:  TeleSUR
March 10 2016

Maurice Bishop and the New Jewel Movement ousted a U.S.-backed regime only to be invaded by the United States in 1983.

The right to invade other countries

During the debate in Miami between the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders came out against the Monroe Doctrine, which dictated that the United States government could intervene throughout the hemisphere and overthrow whatever government didn’t suit Washington.

“The United States was wrong to try to invade Cuba, that the United States was wrong trying to support people to overthrow the Nicaraguan government, that the United States was wrong trying to overthrow in 1954, the democratically-elected government of Guatemala,” said Sanders.

Sadly, the countries listed by Sanders are just a few of the many instances where the U.S. government interfered in the domestic affairs of a country in order to satisfy the imperial ambitions of the U.S.

U.S. invasion of Grenada.

One often overlooked imperialist adventure was the 1983 U.S. invasion of the small Caribbean nation of Grenada.

The objective of the invasion was the consolidation of a pro-U.S. regime after the assassination of the charismatic prime minister, Maurice Bishop.

Bishop came to power in March 13, 1979 as the head of the New Jewel Movement, which staged a bloodless coup against the U.S.-friendly regime of Eric Gairy.

Maurice Bishop – building a society in the interest the majority of the people 

Bishop’s ability to connect with the Grenadian people has been favorably compared with Fidel Castro’s bond with the Cuban people or Hugo Chavez’s closeness to the Venezuelan masses.

Much like the modern day revolutionary processes in Latin America and the Caribbean, the revolutionary government in Grenada sought to build a society that favored the great majority of people.

The government built schools, led a massive literacy campaign, sought to develop the countryside and provide employment to the people. According to a 2013 article by Bill Bigelow, thanks to the efforts of the revolutionary government, in four years the unemployment rate dropped from 49 percent to 14 percent.

Don Rojas, press secretary for Prime Minister Bishop, explained the orientation of the revolutionary government in a 2004 interview with Democracy Now! in the following way:

Empowering the people

“Maurice Bishop was attempting to empower the Grenadian people, a people who had a long history of slavery, followed by British colonialism, followed by independence in 1974 … Maurice Bishop’s vision for Grenada was of a small country standing tall and proud in the Caribbean region and in the world community. He was able to bring his message very successfully of a new way for Grenada and the Caribbean to the world, to the United Nations, to the non-aligned movement, et cetera, and received tremendous acclaim around the world at a time.”

Reagan’s fears

Bishop was a firm internationalist and Grenada was perceived as a threat precisely because then U.S. President Ronald Reagan feared that other Caribbean countries would follow the country’s example.

“I think Washington fears that we could set an example for the rest of the region if our revolution succeeds. In the Caribbean region you’re talking about small countries with small populations and limited resources, countries that over the years have been classic examples of neo-capitalist dependencies. Now you have these new governments like Nicaragua and Grenada that are attempting a different experiment,” Bishop told the New Internationalist magazine in 1980.

Close ties with Fidel

As part of its internationalist and integrationist vision, the Bishop government also sought close ties with Fidel Castro’s revolutionary government in Cuba.

Bishop was a great admirer of Fidel Castro and held high praise for the Cuban revolution as an example for the region.

“Your revolution, comrades, has also provided the region and the world with a living legend in your great and indomitable leader, Fidel Castro. Fidel has taught us not only how to fight, but also how to work, how to build socialism, and how to lead our country in a spirit of humility, sincerity, commitment and firm revolutionary leadership,” said Bishop during a speech in Havana, Cuba in 1980.

The Cuban government sent hundreds of advisers and, as part of an effort to end Grenada’s isolation, helped build an airport on the island.

US demagoguery

The U.S government jumped on this development project, with Reagan claiming it was actually an effort for the Soviet government to establish another foothold in the hemisphere, saying it formed part of an effort at “Soviet-Cuban militarization” and that the airport would serve as a “military bastion to export terror.”

This kind of demagoguery would later serve to help justify the U.S. invasion.

Internal divisions

In October 1983, internal divisions within the New Jewel Movement led to a dramatic split and the detention and subsequent assassination of Bishop.

This internal chaos provided the pretext for the U.S. to order the invasion by approximately 7,600 soldiers, an overwhelming amount of troops for the tiny country.

The U.S. government intended to oust Bishop all along, they had in fact conducted a military exercise in August 1981 in Vieques, Puerto Rico, which was effectively a mock invasion of Grenada.

The disproportionately large invasion was deliberate, an effort to dissuade other revolutionary movements in the region from daring to attempt what Grenada had attempted. But to this day, Grenada’s short-lived revolutionary process is still remembered and honored.

 

 

Grenada to join ALBA: “The more cooperation, the better” . . . Prime Minister Mitchell

“My feeling is the more cooperation we can get among the countries in the region, in particular in the context of the available resources we can use to facilitate our development, to me is better…my own view is that we have nothing to lose in joining ALBA,” Prime Minister of Grenada, Keith Mitchell

The Government of Grenada has formally put in its application to become a member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA).

According to Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, the decision to join the organization will help strengthen regional cooperation and integration.

The Grenadian leader says the process is expected to take up to a month to finalize.

Grenada paid for the U.S. defeat in Vietnam

• In what context did the U.S. invasion of Grenada take place
30 years ago? What similarities exist with the current U.S. position?

DALIA GONZÁLEZ DELGADO

WHAT could lead the most powerful country in the world to invade a nation of only 110,000 inhabitants? Three decades ago, some 7,000 U.S. marines and parachutists occupied Grenada, in an operation labeled Urgent Fury. The capital of this Caribbean island was bombarded by aircraft, helicopters and warships.

The United Nations condemned the aggression. Ronald Reagan, who occupied the White House at the time, responded, “100 nations in the United Nations have not agreed with us on just about everything that’s come before them where we are involved, and it didn’t upset my breakfast at all.”

This was the same President who when asked about the possibility of invading Nicaragua in 1986 said, ” You’re looking at an individual that is the last one in the world that would ever want to put American troops into Latin America, because the memory of the Great Colossus of the North is so widespread in Latin America, we’d lose all our friends if we did anything of that kind.”

 U.S. military’s ability to coerce

The events of October 1983 took place within the framework of an effort by Reagan,

Thomas Sankara: The speech he would have given on October 15, 1987

October 15, 2013 marked the 26th anniversary of the assassination of revolutionary Burkinabe President and African statesman Thomas Sankara.  Here is the complete text of a hand-written speech that  he was set to deliver on the evening of the day he was assassinated, October 15, 1987.

Source:  Pambazuka News
Pambazuka News published a special issue on Sankara last week

The speech was found by the journalist Denis de Montgolfier (see the summary of the book where this is published at http://www.thomassankara.net/spip.php?article1134) who we must deeply thank, as this discussion is of the utmost importance.

There are some things to consider when analysing this text. A crisis persisted at the heart of the CNR. Sankara had called a meeting of the OMR (Revolutionary Military Organisation), on the evening of October 15 where he was to give this speech. Indeed, shortly before this he had asked all activists to leave the UCB, a political party which contained many people conspiring in the manner Thomas Sankara describes in his speech.

Another note is that this discourse disproves the Popular Front’s claim that Thomas Sankara was preparing to assassinate Blaise Compoaré and his companions. The photo of this text, as it was hand-written, exists and there can be no doubt that the speech originated from Thomas Sankara. Know that we have seen this and the journalist recognised the hand-writing himself.

Enjoy reading and we eagerly await your response as this important document should generate a flurry of questions and reflections.

Bruno Jaffré

THE SPEECH

Dear Comrades,

The Revolution’s prestige, and the confidence with which the masses have devoted themselves, has suffered a serious shock. The consequences are a remarkable decline in enthusiasm for the revolution amongst activists, a serious decrease in the commitment, determination, and mobilisation of our grassroots base; finally, distrust and suspicion everywhere and factionalism amongst our leadership.

What are the causes of this?

There are, on one hand, significant questions which could divide us pertaining to the operating structures and the internal functioning of the CNR based on ideological positions. On the other hand, there are questions regarding the relationships between the principal actors, as each of us is a leader. However, as important as ideological and organisational questions are, they are shown to be less important in our current situation.

Forward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution – A new documentary on the Grenadian revolution

Forward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution
A documentary by Bruce Paddington highlighting Maurice Bishop’s revolutionary government

Source: 1804CaribVoices

Almost 30 years have passed since a bloody coup in Grenada saw the assassination of the leader of the People’s Revolutionary Government, Maurice Bishop, along with his colleagues by members of the People’s Revolutionary Army.

Grenada, according to some scholars and researchers, even three decades later, still grapples with the chain of events surrounding the crisis.

As that island readies itself to observe the 30th anniversary of the coup next month, director and producer Bruce Paddington has focused his lens on that island with Forward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution — a 2 1/2 hour long epic documentary which highlights the revolutionary government of Grenada that came to power by a coup in 1979, and its demise with the bloody killings of October 19, 1983.

Read more at: http://1804caribvoices.org/articles/2013/09/a-dark-day-in-caribbean-history/?utm_source=1804CaribVoices%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=6b4bd35488-1804CaribVoices_Weekly_Issue_41_31_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_519293e7a1-6b4bd35488-44923193

34th Anniversary of the Grenadian Revolution

March 13 2013 marks the 34th anniversary of the Grenadian revolution which was led by Maurice Bishop and his New Jewel Movement (NJM).  Seven months after the revolution began, on October 10 1979, Bishop addressed the United Nations where, among other matters, he spoke of the roots of the people’s revolution in Grenada.

Read Bishop’s speech here: http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/carriers-torch/3103-maurice-bishop-speech-34th-general-assembly-united-nations-new-york.html

See also:  http://moorbey.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/commemorating-the-grenada-revolution/