Four years ago when she arrived in Barbados to begin her tour of duty as Cuba’s Ambassador to Barbados, Lisette Perez Perez faced the challenges of language, adjusting to the Barbadian culture and deciding on how best how best to go about strengthening the relationship between Cuba and Barbados.
The first woman to be appointed as Cuba’s Ambassador to Barbados left the island Sunday, headed back to her country satisfied with the way she has accomplished her mission.
Speaking to Easy magazine on the eve of her departure, she said, “On my arrival everything here had been a challenge but it turned out to be beautiful because we were welcomed by all sectors of your society and we established good relations with your Government.”
As she sat on the patio of the official residence at Edgehill Heights, St Thomas, poring over a thick album of photographs and newspaper clippings, labelled “Memoria – Embajada en Barbados” (Memories – Embassy in Barbados), she occasionally paused for a lingering look at certain photographs, her face sometimes becoming enveloped in sadness obviously evoked by memories arising from a particular photograph.
In that album are some mementos from the visit she paid to the Nation newspaper’s library soon after her arrival in Barbados. Then she spent a long time thumbing through, her attention riveted to pages bearing images of the Cubana airline crash of October 1973.
Reflecting, she said, “I visited your archives and I saw all the photos that you keep there regarding the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 on October 6, 1973. When I saw the bodies of the people in the photos, I had never seen that before. It was very touching for me, and I consider The Nation a treasure in this history. It is sadness that both of us share regarding that sabotage.
“It was the first terrorist attack in the Western Hemisphere. Fifty-eight bodies of our brothers are in the deep waters of Barbados’ west coast. So this place is a holy place, a symbol for Cuba that has been suffering from terrorist attacks and the US blockade for so many years.”
Seventy-three people, including Cuba’s entire fencing team, 11 Guyanese and five Koreans perished with the downing of the Cubana flight, and throughout her tenure Perez Perez has ensured that Barbados and the world never forgets, each year holding a commemorative ceremony at the monument at Paynes Bay, St James, near where the aircraft went down on that fateful day.
Perez laments that to this day the perpetrators who were caught have not been found guilty of the deed.
While here she took advantage of every opportunity to highlight the plight of her country, which she complained continued to be sidelined by the United States. Her long-held desire is to see the “stranglehold” on Cuba loosened. This is a desire she shares with many other Cubans.
She expressed gratitude for Barbados’ support at the level of the United Nations, to have the blockade removed.
It is a subject which she never lost an opportunity to keep in the consciousness of people who empathise with Cuba in its long struggle against acts of terrorism that are said to be responsible for more than 3 000 Cuban deaths.
Throughout her mission in Barbados, Perez shared this aspect of her country’s story with anyone who would listen, and she is grateful to have found willing and supportive ears in Barbados.
That Barbadians turned out at the Paynes Bay monument in solidarity with the Cubans, to perpetuate the memory of those who perished, has been a source of deep comfort to her.
In September she hosted guests at the official residence as part of an international campaign for the release of three anti-terrorist Cuban fighters imprisoned in the United States for the last 16 years.
As she was saying farewell to Barbados, the Ambassador went into detail about the progress Cuba has made despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
“For Cuba, everything is more difficult because we cannot trade with the United States; we cannot receive loans, we cannot receive credit from the international institutions. It means that Cuba has to work with its own resources. Still we are a country with a high level of human development. We are a small island with more than 11 million people.”
Perez Perez makes a boast of Cuba’s achievements in medicine: “Our doctors have gone all over the world to help where there have been diseases. They have the theoretic preparation but besides that they have the practical experience around the world which means they see things that other doctors don’t see because they go to the places and see the diseases in the field.”
She is also glad to see Cuba sharing its expertise in agriculture with Barbados.
“Our challenge is that we don’t want to lose the social achievements we have made. We want to have economical transformation to improve the efficiency and productivity of our companies.”
She added, “Coming back to Barbados, we are conscious that we have to move forward together in the areas of health pandemics or any kind of emergency situation. Of course, there are other projects that we want to share, for example, providing our technical assistance to improve the production of agricultural crops.”
During her term in Barbados she and her husband Orestes Hernandez, along with their ten-year-old daughter Carolina, embraced Barbadian culture, taking advantage of opportunities to attend a variety of cultural events. She is in love with Bajan culture.
Her favourite artiste Gabby appeared on the programme of performers at any event organised by the embassy. “I love Gabby’s songs. I love to hear him sing and play his song Emmerton.” She is also a big fan of the Royal Barbados Police Force Band.
This is the “beautiful island” in which she and her family found acceptance, with an east coast to which she would often escape to relieve the pressures of her office and be reinvigorated by roar of the pounding surf of the Atlantic Ocean.
Looking out from her elevated patio towards the St George valley, where a rain-breaking cloud began to obscure the view as it swept across, she remarked, “This is beautiful. I will miss this view. I will miss Barbados.”
