PM GONSALVES BIDS FAREWELL TO FIDEL
It is with a deep and heartfelt sadness that the people and government of St Vincent and the Grenadines learnt of the death of Commandant Fidel Castro, former President of the Republic of Cuba.
Known to the people as Fidel, this iconic revolutionary successfully led the political process to unshackle Cuba from a debilitating imperialism and strove to establish a just and inclusive society in his people’s interest, free of exploitation.
The Cuban people loved him, and so too we in St Vincent & the Grenadines, the Caribbean, Latin America and indeed the world over.
For over 50 years, Fidel lead his people and others globally in a quest for a better world of justice, equality, genuine freedom and human dignity.
Cuba’s solidarity with the poor and oppressed peoples worldwide were manifestations of Fidel’s humanity and his nobility of spirit.
We in St Vincent & the Grenadines have been beneficiaries of his generosity and solidarity.
In other countries such as in racist Southern Africa, Cubans under Fidel’s extraordinary leadership have shed their blood to assist in the attainment of freedom and nationhood, especially in Angola and South Africa.
Fidel was a warm and humorous person, generous in spirit, full of life and a love for life and living.
We will miss him dearly. I and my wife Eloise, we have lost a personal friend.
On Monday, I conveyed condolences of the government and people of St Vincent and the Grenadines to the government and people of Cuba and to comrade Raul and to Fidel’s family.
St Vincent and the Grenadines will honor Fidel appropriately during his immediate period of mourning and thereafter.
May Fidel’s soul rest in peace, his ideas and example live on.
Farewell, my dear friend and comrade.
