Caribbean peoples debate on sovereignty and self-determination

Caribbean peoples debate on sovereignty and self-determination
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7 July 2022
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SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba, Jul 6 (ACN) As part of the second day of the Assembly of Caribbean Peoples (APC) underway ion the Cuban eastern city of Santiago, delegates from the region debated this Wednesday about the struggles for the conquest of their sovereignty and self-determination.

In the Stained Glass Hall of the Antonio Maceo Revolution Square in Santiago de Cuba, the exchange evidenced the effort of the delegations for the radical transformation of their communities in favor of justice and social protection.

Camille Chalmers, member of the APC regional executive committee, recalled at the beginning of the meeting the birth of the Assembly in 1994 in Trinidad and Tobago as an initiative of the labor and socialist movement.

The space embraces many diversities, she said, and has had important impacts to the present day, such as the inclusion of Haiti in the Community of Caribbean States (Caricom) and the demilitarization of Vieques, in Puerto Rico.

Neutralizing plunder, the struggle for fundamental rights and for an egalitarian world that does not reproduce the monstrosities of capitalism are part of the dreams of the peoples of this part of the continent, Chalmers said.

The Trinidadian Kandis Sebro, representative of the oil sector in her country, reviewed the history of resistance and rebellion in the region, marked by the urgency of confronting oppression from the indigenous communities of yesteryear to today's independence fighters.

In her speech, Sebro highlighted three major revolutions that changed the Caribbean context at the time, such as those of Haiti, Grenada and Cuba in January 1959.

For her part, Astrid Cruz, member of the Juan Ríus Rivera Solidarity Brigade of Puerto Rico and legislator of that nation's Independence Party, referred to the mask created by the United States to show a different picture of colonialization.

The real Puerto Rico, land of resistance and maroonage, is invisible with the legalistic invention of the Unincorporated Territory, she said.

French colonial domination was also evidenced by the delegation of Martinique, a people used as a platform for European commercial interests.

The participants in the CPA were called to think as a single country, and among the main proposals for its strengthening, they agreed to organize regional training spaces to consolidate the relationship between the Caribbean islands.

They emphasized the recovery of the historical memory to verify the unity and identity in the daily expressions of struggle, as well as to build a permanent movement for the liberation of the colonized peoples.

They also called for the use of digital platforms to break the isolation and enhance the role of young people in all political and social processes in the region.

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