Posted by A. Gabriella Fraser
The Cuban Ambassador to The Bahamas, Felix Wilson,
recently spoke to the Rotary Club of Nassau Sunrise, in a presentation where he
addressed a number of issues, starting first with a brief history of the
country, since as he stated "many people do not know the truth about Cuba, but still
they speculate". Among the historical milestones that he retraced were what he
cited as the Cuban-Spanish-American War, the 1934 US
withdrawal from the country , the Platt Amendment which today he said still
defines the US control of GuantanamoBay,
the days of the US supported
Batista Government in the 1950s and circumstances surrounding the US
embargo on the country in 1962.
It was because of this embargo he said that Cuba
was forced to turn to the Soviet countries of the day, whom they relied on for
the purchase of Cuban sugar cane, and from whom they bought oil, "since they
were closed off from US markets". On US-Cuban relations, the Ambassador said emphatically
that "we want to build a kind of society where we cannot be held hostage by a
superpower telling us what to do and where to go". As far as US criticism of
Cuba's human rights record, the Ambassador said that "the US can't talk about
human rights, they have Guantanamo Bay and Iraq", referring to much publicised
allegations of US human rights abuses in recent times. "The US" he further stated "has relations with China and Saudi
Arabia, but does not want The Bahamas to have relations
with Cuba."
He described his country and its people as "not
trying to get others to support the
Cuban Government, but to get people to understand that Cuba is a poor country of people
who are just trying to survive," and he underscored the plight of Cubans of not
having access to US markets for very basic necessities like medicine. Further
stating, that "under the conditions, we have the only society we can have and we will not allow the Cuban
Government and system to be undermined by the US".
Ambassador Wilson reminded the audience that
Cuban-Bahamian relations date back to 1974, which was further affirmed he
indicated with the opening of the Cuban Consulate office in The Bahamas in
2000. While numerous possibilities exist whereby The Bahamas he said can
benefit from Cuba's human
resources, its doctors and teachers in particular, The Bahamas he said can
teach Cuba
about tourism.
To illustrate his point, Mr. Wilson informed the Club
that "27 Bahamian doctors are expected to graduate from Cuban universities next
year and this year 7 Bahamian doctors". He said that in addition to medicine
Bahamian students were today studying engineering, accounting and other
professional disciplines in Cuban universities. In addition, the Ambassador also
stated that "more than 600 Bahamians have travelled to Cuba for
medical purposes", services which he said are provided at significantly smaller
costs than other alternatives.
The Cuban Ambassador also spoke of his own humble
beginnings in Cuba.
He was born he said in GuantanamoBay and reared in his homeland where he as a young
adult studied Political Science and Sociology at University in Havana. His diplomatic assignments for the
government of Cuba have
included postings in Angola,
Zimbabwe, and Nigeria; and
The Bahamas since 2001.
Ambassador Wilson summarised that relations between
The Bahamas and Cuba "were
going well", mentioning the recent opening of the Bahamian Embassy in Cuba
as a evidence of the strength of this relationship. Cuba
he said "wants to strengthen relations with The Bahamas and the whole Caribbean".
