Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, demanded that the United States government initiate a dialogue without preconditions with Cuba and Venezuela to resolve differences, while reaffirming Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.
During a speech in the framework of the International Colloquium “Colonialism, Neocolonialism and the territorial dispossessions of Western imperialism”, the Caribbean leader questioned Washington’s warmongering stance towards sovereign governments in the region.
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Gonsalves called on the U.S. administration to establish “principled talks with the governments of Cuba and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to resolve any problems that exist between them.”
The diplomat argued that the ineffectiveness of violence as a method of resolution has been demonstrated. “Every conflict that is resolved through war, is never really resolved. It must be resolved through discussion. Even at the end of the war there must be discussions. So why not have those discussions earlier to avoid it?” he stressed.
Gonsalves also recalled that both the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) have formally declared the region a Zone of Peace, a principle that, he insisted, must be respected.
He clarified that this status refers to the absence of war between states and not to the non-existence of criminal activities, which the region fights in cooperation. In this sense, the Caribbean leader denounced the origin of the weapons that feed regional insecurity. “In my country, in every country in the Caribbean, in Latin American countries, we don’t produce weapons, we don’t produce bullets. All of that comes from the United States of America,” he said.
The prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines called the U.S. policy toward Cuba and Venezuela “absurd” and “irrational,” arguing that it is based on electoral interests in Florida and not on a real threat
During his speech, the Caribbean president denied the narrative that presents Cuba and Venezuela as a danger to U.S. security. “No one serious can think that Venezuela, with 30 million people, or Cuba, with ten million, are a threat to the United States,” he said.
Gonsalves emphasized the disproportion of military power and capacity, pointing out the illogic of such an approach. He recalled that the United States, with a population of 350 million people, has the capacity to perpetrate attacks from a distance, but warned that the peoples of Cuba and Venezuela will defend their sovereignty “hand to hand.”
He also criticized the persistence of a failed foreign policy, such as the embargo against Cuba in force since 1961, which has only sought to strangle the economy and undermine its government without success. “If we have a policy that has failed, why do you continue to insist on it?” he questioned.
The prime minister defended the concept of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, clarifying that it is defined by the absence of war between states and not by the non-existence of criminal activities, which all governments in the region have committed to combat. “You have arrogated to yourself the right to be the judge and say whether a government is on the right path or not,” he concluded, deconstructing the irrationality of the interventionist policy of the United States in the hemisphere.
The International Colloquium “Colonialism, Neocolonialism and the Territorial Dispossessions of Western Imperialism”, brings together 137 delegates from 57 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa to denounce and debate colonialism and US expansionism in the region.
