Jamaica salutes Cuba

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Dear Editor,

On behalf of the North Eastern Action Taskforce, I wish to offer fraternal greetings to the Republic of Cuba on the 53rd anniversary of its revolution.

Jamaica has benefited greatly from the inspiration of the Cuban revolution, led by Commandante Fidel Castro. Cuba's courage in standing up to the superpower, US, has emboldened people throughout the world to find new confidence in themselves.

In St Mary, we have benefited from scholarships offered to our children, enabling them to become doctors, among other professions.

Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to Jamaica, Yuri Ariel Gala López, has visited St Mary, Portland and St Ann, and has established friendship with the citizens of those parishes. He is very well respected and loved by the people who have interfaced with him.

His predecessor, Mrs Gisela García Rivera, also visited and created great friendships and mutual respect between our peoples.

We salute the Cuban people, and honour them on their successful revolution. We hope to cement deeper relations between our people.

Many hospitals and colleges in St Mary, St Ann and Portland have benefited from the generosity of the Cubans. The Annotto Bay Hospital has many doctors who were trained in Cuba.

The College of Agriculture, Science and Education is in dialogue with Ambassador Gala seeking to forge closer ties with universities in Cuba.

Barry A Wahrmann

Highgate, St Mary

bwahrmann@hotmail.com