SVG Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves Hoping For Cuban Workers to Help Rebuild Union Island

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says he hopes Cuba can provide at least 15 construction workers to help rebuild homes and other buildings damaged by Hurricane Beryl on July 1.

Damage caused by Hurricane Beryl (File Photo)He said that the government is ramping up reconstruction on the Southern Grenadines but cannot find enough construction workers.

“As you notice, it is very difficult to live on Union Island at the moment but you can carry the testimony as to how you have done it,” he said tol a ceremony thanking the 14 Cuban linesmen who spend three months on Union Island helping to restore the electricity grid there.

“You have now assisted in bringing back the electricity and you now have more electricity power than houses to connect the electricity so we now have to build the houses. It is a practical matter so that’s something which we have to pursue in the next few weeks.”

Gonsalves said there are construction workers from St. Lucia, Scotland and Romania on Union Island, noting that they did not come to the country through governmental arrangements.

“And there are other countries in the Caribbean who would very much like to help St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada to rebuild their housing stock but they themselves do not have enough construction workers.

“I tell you, if I get 15 construction workers from Cuba, they will do remarkable work, just as you have done,” Gonsalves said, noting that the senior executives at the St. Vincent Electricity Services Limited (VINLEC) has informed him they intend to “have completed everything for electricity by the end of January”.

Gonsalves said that the country does not have enough transformers to complete the grid, amidst a shortage globally.

“There is a long timeline between ordering and getting transformers. In fact, if we can get them by the middle of January, it will be remarkable work on the park of VINLEC,” Gonsalves said, commending the work of VINLEC and sayong the state-owned company has done exceptional work in ensuring the restoration of power in the country after Beryl.

Meanwhile, Gonsalves noted the strong links between St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Cuba across administrations in Kingstown.

“We have had a history of good relations but since my government came to office in 2001, the relationship has gotten far closer,” he said, noting that the two countries are both members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).

“Our two countries are strongly anti-imperialists and SVG is at the forefront of countries in the world defending the sovereignty and independence of Cuba always.”

Gonsalves said Cuba has made an immense contribution not only to the country but to the whole of the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa.

But he said he is not optimistic about change in the United States policy to Cuba

He said that every year at the United Nations, St. Vincent and the Grenadines  sponsors a resolution denouncing “the criminal blockage and illegal sanctions of the United States against Cuba.

“In all our encounters with the United States of America, who are our friends, we tell them that their policy towards Cuba is wrong.”

Gonsalves expressed hope that the new Trump administration which comes to office in Washington in January “may take a different turn in the US but I doubt that very much.

“Because the new secretary of state under President-elect Trump has a well-known history of antagonism towards the Cuba regime. But, stranger things have happened, so we have to work for change.”

He said that over the last 24 years, Cuba has made important contributions to the development of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, including helping to build Argyle International Airport, construction of the Modern Medical and Diagnostic Centre, providing scholarships for students at universities as well as sending doctors, nurses and experts in agriculture, construction and engineering to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

“And of course, now helping us with the rebuilding of our electricity network, in the Southern Grenadines, particularly in Union Island,” he said, adding that St.  Vincent and the Grenadines had sent one million US dollars to Havana a few weeks after the impact of Hurricane Milton.

“This is a very small recompense for all the great work the people of Cuba have done for us in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and we will always help and we will go beyond the normal measure to assist our comrade and friends in Cuba,” Gonsalves said.