Raul Castro Says CARICOM Can Always Count on Cuba

Cuban President Raul Castro Ruz reiterated while speaking before heads of government, ministers and other officials convened in Antigua and Barbuda that Caribbean nations “can always count on Cuba.”

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He noted that faced with the “impact of extreme weather events,” Cuba and other Caribbean islands must prioritize the “confrontation to climate change,” especially in regard to “our people, who have suffered in the flesh its devastating effects and which weigh the most worrisome forecasts derived from our geographical situation and the high vulnerability to natural disasters. extremes, like hurricanes.”

The comments came during meetings celebrating 45 years of cooperation between members of the Caribbean Community and Cuba.

“It is time to close ranks and undertake ambitious and immediate actions to stop the continued deterioration of Mother Earth,” the Cuban leader affirmed. He added that if urgent action is not taken “the objectives set for ourselves in 1992 when adopting the Framework Convention on Climate Change, will be nothing more than an inert letter” and the Paris climate accord would end up a “chimera.”

“We can not allow our countries to be devastated and their citizens become victims,” he said, “while the irrationality of production and consumption patterns of developed countries, responsible for the degradation of the environment, persists.”

The head of state also noted that industrialized countries “have the obligation to fulfill their international commitments through ambitious mitigation goals.”

However, he warned, “International efforts to stop and reverse the damage caused to the planet have been shown to be insufficient. The time to mitigate this situation is exhausted. It is essential to promote an international environment that favors the development of the countries of the South, and in particular of the small island developing states.”

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Citing the U.N. designation of the Caribbean Sea as a “Special Zone in the context of sustainable development,” he reminded that while these small island nations have the “political will to advance more and better in the preparation and confrontation of these events,” they lack full resources to implement such policies.

“The main obstacle is underdevelopment and the unjust and selfish international economic order that conditions and sustains it. A significant increase in international cooperation and the transfer of resources, technologies and knowledge to the Caribbean countries are indispensable, with the aim of strengthening their national strategies,” he added.

In this vein, he hailed the “spirit of solidarity” that has characterized Caribbean island relations to date, case in point, the Cuban model of Integral Risk Management Centers for Disasters, which has been incorporated by several Caribbean countries.

Participants in the Caricom-Cuba meeting also reaffirmed their commitment to peace among their nations based on the “inalienable right of each member state to chose its political, economic, social and cultural system.”