Re: Bridgetown Declaration
The first Caribbean Peace Conference was held in Bridgetown, Barbados, October 6-7th, 2017. The theme of the Conference was : RESISTING NUCLEAR AND ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER : BUILDING PEACE IN THE CARIBBEAN. Attendees included representatives from Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Venezuela, and Barbados.
This initiative emerged out of the World Peace Council (WPC) Assembly that was held in Brazil in November 2016 and was sponsored by the Barbados-based Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration (CMPI), the Cuban Movement for Peace and People's Sovereignty (Mov Paz), and the Caribbean Chapter of the International Network in Defense of Humanity, .
The purpose of this Conference was to consolidate a serious Caribbean Peace Movement equipped with a concrete agenda and guiding philosophy.
Donald Trump's war mongering speech at the UN, and the ever-increasing fascism of the Euro/American Empire's program for world domination and control, no matter the human and environmental cost, set the grave context for the gathering and the urgency for action. The degree of urgency was best summed up by one of our most heroic brothers and leaders, the late, great, Fidel Castro. A firm advocate of peace in this region, not only in words but in deeds, he warned at the Rio Earth Summit, in 1992, that action to avoid environmental disaster must happen immediately. His prophetic words, “tomorrow is too late”, came to mind as we recently witnessed the hurricanes that devastated a number of Caribbean countries. It has never been more clear that the survival of Caribbean nation-states depends on our ability to integrate so as to speak with one voice, as a Caribbean power-bloc. Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and other leaders have spoken about this necessity. However, real and meaningful unity continues to allude us.
Over the course of the two days we discussed a range of pressing topics impacting our region: What it means to be a Zone of Peace; Trump, the USA and the Caribbean today; Ending Caribbean Colonialism; the Problem of Foreign Military Presences in the Caribbean; Venezuela as a case study of the tactics and strategy of Imperialism; Combating the blockade of Cuba and fighting for the devolution of Guantanamo Naval base; addressing the Haiti--Dominican Republic conflict; the Media, Psychological Warfare and Cultural Penetration; and Combating Economic Crisis and Social Collapse in the Caribbean.
Please find attached the BRIDGETOWN DECLARATION that was produced by the delegates to this Conference. Please circulate as widely as possible.
In unity and struggle,
Gerald A. Perreira
Organization for the Victory of the People (OVP)
Guyana