Telesur (April 1) – Cuba pledged its support Friday to the Caribbean Community’s quest to receive an apology and compensation from European powers for the transatlantic slave trade.
The Caribbean Community or CARICOM, which has 15 states as members, wants reparations from the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands in an initiative it says is based on diplomacy and engagement, without resorting to confrontation.
“We support the just demand for compensation hoisted by the Member States of the Caribbean Community,” said Ana Silvia Rodriguez, Cuban ambassador to the United Nations.
“People from the third world are still feeling the effects of the inhuman exploitation of people in their homelands and these peoples clearly deserve compensation for the horrendous crimes committed against their ancestors,” said the diplomat during address to CARICOM officials.
Cameron, the first British prime minister to visit Jamaica for the last 14 years, said the slave trade was one “from which history has drawn the bitterest of lessons.”
“Slavery was and is abhorrent in all its forms. It has no place whatsoever in any civilized society, and Britain is proud to have led the way in its abolition,” but offered no compensation.
In late February the chairman of the CARICOM Sub-Committee on Reparations, Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart sent a letter to the British Foreign Office, on behalf of the 15-member countries, for London to formally acknowledge the region’s demands for payment for the transatlantic slave trade.
CARICOM has reportedly given the British office two years to respond to its call, but warned that it is prepared to bring its complaint to the International Court of Justice in The Netherlands.
Cuba highlights the importance of strengthening the activities of international organizations on issues related to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade
Intervention by the Permanent Alternative Cuba Representative to the United Nations, HE Ambassador Ana Silvia Rodríguez Abascal, in item 118, “tracking the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade” Commemorative Meeting on the occasion of the International Day remembrance of victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. 70 UN General Assembly – March 29, 2016
Mr. President:
My delegation associates itself with the statement made by Antigua and Barbuda on behalf of the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Ana Silvia Rodriguez, Cuban ambassador to the United Nations
Slavery and the transatlantic slave trade are among the most serious crimes against humanity that have not been adequately studied, nor its consequences in today’s society duly recognized.
Tragedy and unspeakable horror was the fate of some 15 to 20 million men, women and children that the trans-Atlantic slave uprooted from their homes and were sent to the Americas as commercial cargo receiving an inhumane, unjust and despicable treatment.
Cuba attaches particular importance and sensitivity to the commemoration of the International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Cuba supported and cosponsored the Resolution 61/19 of the General Assembly commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade and appointed the day we commemorate today.
Major players in the different stages of the wars to exercise self-determination
The Ten Year’s War of the Cuban people against Spanish colonialism is considered Cuba’s First War of Independence. Led by Generals Antonio Maceo (pictured), Máximo Gómez, and Quintín Banderas, the Mambi rebel army was composed mostly (80 to 92 per cent) of AfroCubans and numbered 40,000 in 1870. It is the largest slave rebellion in the hemisphere after the Haitian revolution.
Colonial plantations of Cuba emerged as part of this cruel trade, as about one million 300 thousand Africans were taken by force from their villages and families and sold as slave labor on the island. Freed slaves and their descendants, have been major players in the different stages of the wars that allowed the Cuban people to exercise self-determination.
Cuban identity, therefore, was the result of a process of acculturation occurred with the contribution of various ethnic groups in difficult first colonial, then neo-colonial environments. We are a mixture, in the main, of the Hispanic and African. We also influence Asian and Native American peoples.
The Cuban people are most proud of their African roots, which are present in our character and our cultural manifestations. Cuban culture and nationality emerged and nourished African heritage. Cuba has also provided the sweat and blood of hundreds of thousands of their children to contribute to the emancipation of Africa, a continent to which all humanity will always be indebted.
There is a lot of gold stained with the blood of slaves
There is a lot of gold stained with the blood of slaves, and much of the wealth generated produce shame and reproach. The fate of peoples of the third world was altered greatly by inhuman exploitation and it is these peoples who clearly deserve compensation for the horrendous crimes committed against their ancestors.
The developed countries and their consumer societies responsible for the accelerated and almost unstoppable destruction of the environment, have been the main beneficiaries of the conquest and colonization, slavery and trafficking trans-atlántica, the ruthless exploitation and extermination of hundreds of millions of children of the peoples of the South. They have also enriched the unjust economic order imposed on humanity and international financial institutions created exclusively by them and for them.
Cuba supports the just demand for compensation hoisted by the Member States of CARICOM. Cuba also claims the special and differential treatment required by developing countries, particularly Africa, in its international economic relations. Cuba rejects selfishness and shameful opulence of a few that serve as guidelines to ongoing globalization.
Cuba supports and co-sponsor the draft resolution
Cuba supports and co-sponsor the draft resolution presented each year under this theme by member countries of CARICOM and the African Group. Cuba recognizes the importance of strengthening the activities of the United Nations and other international organizations such as UNESCO in the field. It is the least the international community can do to repair the crime against humanity committed in the trans-Atlantic African to be enslaved.
Thank you very much.
Source: Cuba Ministry of Foreign Affairs
March 30 2016
by editor
(October 21, 2013) – Cuba endorsed today at the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization (UN) the claim of the countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to their former metropolis for compensation for damage of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.Rodolfo Reyes, Cuban permanent representative to the UN, called the demand fair, which includes recognition by the powers that benefited from slavery such as France, Holland and the United Kingdom, of the atrocities resulting from this scourge, Prensa Latina news agency reported.
The ambassador recalled that the industrialized countries and their consumer societies are responsible for the accelerated environmental destruction, and have been the main beneficiaries of the conquest and colonization, slavery and the extermination of the peoples of the South.
They have also profited from the unjust economic order imposed on humanity (…). That rich and wasteful world has technical and financial resources to repay its debt to humanity, Reyes said in the Assembly that today tracks the theme of the celebration of the bicentenary of the abolition of slave trade.
Reyes added that his country claims the special and differential treatment required by the underdeveloped nations, especially in Africa, in their international economic relations.
Cuba rejects shameful selfishness and opulence (of a few) that serve as guidelines to ongoing globalization, he said.
Reyes announced the support and sponsorship of the island to the draft resolution presented annually by Caricom members and the African Group on the subject, as well as other related initiatives in the UN.
It’s the least that the international community can do to repair the crimes against humanity committed in the trans-Atlantic African slave trade, Reyes said and added that Cubans are proud of their African roots.
Source: Cuban News Agency
Communique issued at the conclusion of the First Regional Conference on Reparations
(October 17, 2013) – On Sunday September 15th, the Caribbean Community opened the first Regional Reparations Conference at St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Victoria Park.
The Conference was mandated by the historic, unanimous, decision of CARICOM Heads of Government in July, 2013, in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Heads of Government also requested each CARICOM Member State to set up its own National Reparations Committee to document the effects of European genocide against the indigenous inhabitants of the region, the slave trade in and the enslavement of Africans, and the colonization of the country.
The evening began with the unprecedented singing of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ national anthem in both English and Garifuna.
Source: 1804 Caribvoices.org | Read more at: Pan Caribbean Civil Society Reparations Network
Drama at the UN: Caribbean nations sue for reparation
In a speech Friday at United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves said the European nations must pay for their deeds.
“The awful legacy of these crimes against humanity – a legacy which exists today in our Caribbean – ought to be repaired for the developmental benefit of our Caribbean societies and all our peoples,” Gonsalves said. “The European nations must partner in a focused, especial way with us to execute this repairing.”
The lawsuits – which are likely to amount to a lengthy battle – are being brought by The Caribbean Community, or Caricom, a regional organization that focuses mostly on issues such as economic integration. They will be brought to the U.N.’s International Court of Justice, based in The Hague in the Netherlands. It is not immediately clear when court proceedings will begin.
Read more at: http://hiphopandpolitics.com/2013/09/30/drama-un-caribbean-nations-sue-reparation-us-walks-mugabe/
By ROBERTO CASTELLANOS, Granma International, August 29, 2013
IN their fight for the vindication of their peoples and the search for justice, the Caribbean nations are to demand from their former metropolises economic and moral reparations for slavery, the genocide of their peoples, and the colonial practices to which they were subjected.
President Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent & the Grenadines
The cornerstone of this demand was affirmed during the 34th Summit of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which took place in July in Trinidad & Tobago, and which gave the green light to the formation of a regional reparations group, to be supervised by prime ministers and presidents of the region.
The new institution will be responsible for coordinating the national commissions of each state.
Remorse by itself is not sufficient
The next step is a meeting in St. Vincent & the Grenadines in the first week of September,at which various leaders will have discussions with lawyers and historians to draw up a common strategy. The legacy of slavery includes endemic poverty and the lack of development which characterizes a large part of the region. Any agreement must contemplate a formal apology, but remorse by itself is not sufficient, stated President Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent & the Grenadines.
For this reason, CARICOM has retained the UK law firm Leigh Day & Co, which recently won a claim forcing London to compensate hundreds of Kenyans tortured during their liberation struggle, in the so-called Mau Mau rebellion (1952-1960), with more than $20 million. “Our first step will be to seek a negotiated agreement with the governments of France, Britain and the Netherlands in an attempt to resolve the issue amicably,” stated lawyer Martyn Day.
However, David Fitton, British High Commissioner to Jamaica, made clear his government’s position by denying that this ruling set any precedent.
“We don’t think the issue of reparations is the right way to address these issues,” he said. “It’s not the right way to address an historical problem.”
12 million Africans
Although there is no official data, it is estimated that 12 million Africans were taken by force from their continent and transported to the Western Hemisphere to work as slaves. Moreover, a significant number of them never reached their destination as they died in the crossing due to abysmal hygienic conditions, poor food and crowded into the ships’ holds.
While the Caribbean nations have not as yet presented a concrete monetary amount as compensation, regional media have referred to the compensation granted by the British to owners of Caribbean plantations after the emancipation of slaves in 1834.
Then, London paid colonialists approximately 20 million GBP, currently worth $200 billion.
According to Armand Zunder, president of the Suriname National Reparations Committee, during its occupation of this Caribbean nation, the Netherlands alone obtained a sum amounting to 125 billion euros at the current rate.
Nor is there consensus as to the destination of any sums contributed, but Gonsalves called for the creation of a compensation fund for the economic and social development of the region. (Orbe)
The decision has been nearly 30 years in the making according to St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves. Gonsalves has been a steadfast campaigner for the cause. For the past few months, he has been lobbying Caricom heads of government to put reparations on their agenda.
Read more at: http://guardian.co.tt/lifestyle/2013-08-01/reparations-caricom
Tony Seed's Weblog 