By: Kimberly Ramkhalawan
September 27, 2022
Charles Angelo Savarin, President of the Commonwealth of Dominica made a case for removing sanctions against Venezuela and lifting trade blockades to Cuba before the 77th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations this week.
In addressing the session and making his contribution to the debate, the Dominican President ‘strongly urged against’ what he called ‘a few states that continue to support these sanctions, and to heed the call of the overwhelming majority of us gathered here, and lift this archaic and unfair embargo against Cuba and let us support the full integration of the Cuban people into the global financial and trading systems’. He said for decades, ‘Cuba has been training medical doctors, nurses, engineers as well as other professionals while providing technical assistance to developing countries as part of its South to South cooperation. Cuba also offers professional training in various disciplines for thousands of students from across the developing world. Additionally, Cuba continues to add its voice in the fight against terrorism, and drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the rest of the world’.
Savarin continued by stating “we therefore join all other member states who have called for the removal of Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism, that we ask instead, that we redirect our efforts the real threats to global peace and security, in the region”.
Continuing along the path of speaking for the countries that have often been called communist and socialist regime led, Savarin proceeded to plead on behalf of Venezuela. Recalling the start of it all, the Dominican President said since March 2015, the United States, had declared Venezuela as posing as an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy to the United States and imposed sanctions on the country. He says this lead to other similar minded countries to posing as a similar risk to their wellbeing. Since then he says the people of Venezuela have been enduring ‘severe hardships and suffering from the imposition of numerous financial and economic sanctions’.
Consequentially, he says these sanctions has prevented Venezuelans from meeting the most basic needs made even worse by the COVID 19 Pandemic and the war in Ukraine, further impacting its contracted economy and an already weakened health system. He then added that the commonwealth of Dominica, joins in the voices of many other members of this global organization to call for the immediate lifting of the unjustified embargo and all other general sanctions imposed on the people of Venezuela.
He added that the social, political and economic situation demanded the attention of its people.
The Dominican President meanwhile, made sure to attend to Haiti, which has been grabbing the attention of newsmakers around the world. He recalled the nation being once the richest colonies within the Americas having now been reduced to the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Following the devastating earthquake in 2010 which ravaged the nation, an estimated cost of US$8B in damage with reconstructing cost at US$14B remains with 1.3 million people are said to be suffering from food insecurity in Haiti and some 4.6 million with limited access to basic food supplies.
While he is pleased with recent meetings with CARICOM heads of Government that specifically looks at finding solutions for food supply and issues affecting Haiti, President Savarin says the international community needs to act in the similar manner toward “Haiti as if it is under invasion as it does with Ukraine or as it did with the post-world construction as in the case with Europe after World War II, requiring a so-called marshal plan, nothing less can overcome the deep rooted construction challenges facing Haiti”.
Savarin says an all-hands-on deck approach is still needed for Haiti, and with recent upheavals in the globe there is an even greater need. In closing he says this too among other issues affecting the states around the world gives rise for a case of multilateralism. He closed by saying the various issues confronting states, there needs to be more to appease the ‘fears, hopes and expectations and seek to offer solutions of the people of a united international community, eager to realign the sustainable transformative, fairer future for all’.