Under the theme “Grateful Grenada Gives Back to Cuba,” groups dedicated to solidarity with Cuba and other organizations held a successful fundraising campaign all across Grenada, and on the smaller islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, to aid the sister people of Cuba, who are facing a far-reaching economic and political assault by the U.S. rulers.
Launched on April 14, the campaign by mid-July had raised close to a quarter of a million dollars, organizers said, “going beyond our expectations.”
“Grenadians are rallying to assist as best they could,” Ruggles Ferguson, one of the organizers of the initiative, said to Telesur. “We see the images of blackouts in Cuba,” he said, that have caused so many surgical operations “to be postponed.”
“We cannot abandon a friend in need and Cuba has been a friend to us.”
Activities were held in all six of Grenada’s parishes, including raffles, barbecues, dinners and a concert headlined by well-known calypso musicians.
The two single largest contributions came from a “Collection Day for Cuba” at Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist church services and masses. Beautifully decorated boxes were passed around for donations at May Day rallies organized by the Grenada Trades’ Union Council.
Participants in these events heard presentations about the impact of Washington’s brutal economic and oil blockade against the Cuban people. Many Grenadians know about and hold in high esteem Cuba’s ongoing solidarity with Grenada dating back to 1979, when working people took power there in a popular revolution.
Cuba has assisted Grenada’s development, including “the single, largest economic project, ever” on the island, the building of the Maurice Bishop International Airport, Ferguson said. Cuba also gave hundreds of scholarships to study medicine and other fields in Cuba, and has provided specialists and other personnel for Grenada’s hospitals over the decades.
Announcing the results of the fund drive on July 16, Malachy Dottin, another organizer of the campaign, said, “I want to congratulate the churches and all the stakeholders, especially the trade unions. They have shown that solidarity for Cuba is a continuum.”