THE SKY EXPLODED in a kaleidoscope of fireworks Thursday night as United States Ambassador to Barbados Mary Ourisman and more than 200 guests celebrated the true meaning of July 4th – Freedom.

The venue was the ambassador's official St James residence Las Cibeles where the 232nd anniversary of the Independence of the United States of America was celebrated in traditional style.

Close ties

Addressing guests, the US representative underscored that "close ties, friendship and kinship" bind both nations together.

"Today we are privileged . . . that we are able to work with our democratic friends such as Barbados and the other countries of the Eastern Caribbean to ensure that the people of the world can enjoy the same rights that we both cherish – to live freely, to choose our leaders in free elections, to worship without restrictions, to read, to write, [and] to meet together without fear," stressed the ambassador.

(KD)