Guyana and Cuba celebrate Golden Jubilee of diplomatic relations on December 8

December 8, 2022, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and the Republic of Cuba.

On this Golden Jubilee of formal diplomatic relations, we celebrate the strong bonds of cooperation and friendship, of solidarity and mutual respect, that join our two nations, and look forward to the further strengthening of our bilateral relations in the years ahead.

On this date in 1972, four independent CARICOM States, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, took a courageous and historic decision to establish formal diplomatic ties with Cuba. That act marked a defining moment in the course of hemispheric relations. It signalled the beginning of the end of Cuba’s isolation in the Hemisphere. Today, Cuba enjoys normal relations with almost all countries of the hemisphere and its active contributions have been integral to socio-economic progress in many of the countries of the region, including Guyana.

We take this opportunity to express the profound gratitude of the Guyanese people for the selfless and unstinting service of successive Cuban medical brigades – doctors, dentists, nurses, technicians, and other medical experts – who have made an invaluable contribution to healthcare for multiplied thousands of Guyanese citizens throughout the far reaches of our country. We are equally grateful for the thousands of scholarships offered to Guyanese students to pursue careers in medicine, engineering, information technology, agriculture, sports and other fields. We welcome the increase in trade and commerce and people to people contact between our two countries.

Guyana stands resolutely with the Cuban people in their longstanding quest for the removal of the economic, commercial and financial embargo under which they have laboured for more than six decades. We renew our call for an end to this policy and reaffirm our conviction that the normalisation of relations between the United States of America and Cuba will contribute to peace, stability and development in the Americas.

Guyana has been pleased to stand with the Cuban people in the face of myriad other challenges, including those occasioned by natural disasters, and our two countries continue to collaborate at the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels on a range of issues of mutual concern. As we commemorate the fruitful relations our two countries have enjoyed over the past fifty years, we express our firm commitment to partnership with the Government and people of Cuba in the mutual realisation of the highest aspirations of our peoples to peace, development, human rights and dignity. (Release)