CASTRO CRIES FOR HELP

CASTRO CRIES FOR HELP
'Developed countries no help to Cuba and the small islands'
By Anna Ramdass anna.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com
Story Created: Dec 8, 2011 at 10:59 PM ECT

Cuban President Raul Castro yesterday lashed out at developed countries,
saying they have been of no help to Cuba and small islands in terms of
dealing with climate change and the global economic meltdown.

He added that to date there has been no move by US President Barack
Obama to lift the trade embargo against Cuba.

Castro called on Caricom and Latin America to continue forging stronger
ties and partnerships ahead in dealing with problems. He said that Cuba
needs help because parts of that country, according to scientific
studies, will be submerged by water in the future because of the effects
of climate change.

Castro, who is visiting this country for the first time, was speaking at
the IV Caricom-Cuba summit at the National Academy for the Performing
Arts (NAPA) in Port of Spain.

On the trade embargo, Castro said, "that remains essentially unchanged,
the measures publicised by the current President of the United States
have not gone beyond a partial relaxation of the restrictions limiting
remittances and travel to the island of Cuban citizens living in the
Untied States".

He also said that the Fifth Summit of the Americas which was hosted by
the former Patrick Manning led government had failed Cuba.

"We see the expectations of the so called 2009 Summit of the Americas
have failed to rise above the rhetoric," he said.

During that Summit, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez used his first
meeting with Obama to argue in favour of lifting the US-led embargo of
Cuba as did leaders of Caricom nations.

This world, said Castro, is a place where "major powers violate
international law and exercise their domination though the use of force
assaulting sovereign nations under various pretext and manipulations.

"In this sense we need to focus on the viability of small island
developing states and we see the developed nations selfishness and lack
of political will has not even given a decisive decision so that we can
stop the growing deterioration of the environment and grant our nations
the preferable treatment that these island nations require," he continued.

"...Our people in developing nations, we are the main victims of the
exhaustion of the prevailing model and the plundering of natural
resources," he added.

Castro said climate change is a "global menace" which needs urgent
attention.

He pointed out that there is a failure to attain any concrete progress
with respect to climate change because of the "irresponsible attitude of
those profiting from waste, catastrophes and warfare".

Castro noted that the 17th conference on climate change is closing in
South Africa and this shows that the "legitimate and indispensable needs
of underdeveloped countries will not be met, particularly those of the
small island developing states".

The Cuban President spoke in detail of the threat facing Cuba because of
climate change.

Recent studies, he said, conducted by Cuban scientists over the past
five years on the vulnerability of the coastal regions warned of the
rising sea level between the years 2050 and 2100.

"This means there would be severe geographical, demographical and
economic consequences for our island states," he said.

The study, he said, estimates that by 2050, 2.3 per cent of the national
land mass of Cuba will be permanently submerged.

"That means that if the appropriate measures to adjust are not taken,
then 79 coastal settlements will be affected and 15 of these will
disappear completely and this is not the complete number of these that
will be affected," he said.

He said Cuba also has to battle with hurricanes, storms and tsunamis and
he noted that in 2008, hurricane Gustav badly affected the country, so
much so that it resembled a "nuclear disaster".

Castro said the Caricom-Cuba ties must be strengthened to address this
problem that would affect the region.

"When we look at our cooperation initiatives we as Caribbean countries
need to focus on this to mitigate the effects of these disasters and
preserve human life," said Castro.

He added that the establishment of the Caribbean Community of Latin
America and Caribbean States (CELAC) shows that the region was on the
right track.

Castro also pleaded for nations to continue helping Haiti in efforts of
reconstruction and seeing to the needs of that nation's people.

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