“First Carribean Peace Conference” to be held in Barbados

Monday, July 17, 2017

At the World Peace Council (WPC) Assembly held in Brazil in November 2016 the various Caribbean Peace Organizations that were in attendance and the WPC’s regional coordinator for the Americas and the Caribbean -the Cuban Movement for Peace and People´s Sovereignty (MovPaz)- called for the holding of the First Caribbean Peace Conference in Barbados in the year of 2017.

In a period of deep economic crisis, the Caribbean is facing socioeconomic challenges as well as new dangers and threats to peace, including possible eventual imperialist military interventions against sovereign countries of the region. There is also the frightening spectre of the revival of neoliberalism and fascism in its old and new forms.

Furthermore, the democratic and social achievements of the post-War period, including decolonization and national independence, social, economic and cultural development, and the expansion of the International Rule of Law and respect for national sovereignty have all been systemically and aggressively weakened since the 1990s.

Fortunately, these grave threats to peace, sovereignty, humanity and the natural environment have drawn the attention of the People of the Americas, and especially of the forces of peace and social progress. In this regard, the WPC Assembly while affirming its solidarity with the national political struggles of the progressive forces in South American sister nations such as Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela, also reiterated its commitment to create awareness among the international public opinion and political leaders on the real benefits of eliminating nuclear weapons and achieving general and total disarmament at world level, and on the social, economic and environmental costs derived from its maintenance.

In light of such a scenario, the World Peace Council has been supporting, in all international forums, the end to foreign military presence and bases in the Caribbean as well as all modalities of regional militarization. In this regard, the Caribbean Peace Organizations, representing the genuine interests of the Caribbean People, will continue to protect our region and will keep protesting against foreign military bases in our region. This is consistent with our full support of the Declaration of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed by the Heads of State and Governments at the Second Community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations (CELAC) Summit Meeting held in Havana in January 2014, which is a true historical milestone, since it is the most profound and politically far-reaching agreement achieved in centuries by our Latin American and Caribbean countries.

The Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration (CMPI) and the Cuban Movement for Peace and People´s Sovereignty (MovPaz) together with the Caribbean Chapter of the International Network In Defence of Humanity (NIDOH-C), invite all justice and peace loving people of our subregion to the First Caribbean Peace Conference in Barbados on October 6-7th, 2017.

This Conference will help our region to strengthen our Caribbean organisations and fights for peace, decolonization, Reparations, and the preservation of our cultural integrity, as well as our campaign against foreign military presences and bases in our region. In addition, it will provide us with an opportunity to express opposition to all forms of imperialist threats and aggressions against the Peoples of the Caribbean and Latin America, and to produce a consensus Declaration which will contain concrete actions and measures to be undertaken in pursuit of our overarching mission to transform our Caribbean into a Zone of Peace and Integration.

By the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration,
Trevor Prescod, President
David Denny, General Secretary

By the World Peace Council & MovPaz
Silvio Platero, WPC Regional Coordinator and President of Cuban MovPaz.

By the International Network In Defence of Humanity
David Comissiong, Coordinator of the Caribbean Chapter.