Deputy Prime Minister Builds Case for Venezuela and Cuba at Migration Summit

Cordel Hyde (amongst others)

Deputy Prime Minister, Cordel Hyde, is in Mexico for a regional summit on migration. Leaders from ten countries convened at what has been titled “A meeting for a fraternal and well-being neighborhood” summit.  The gathering was organized to address the root causes of migration. On Wednesday, Hyde addressed the summit and raised issues with the strategy being developed to address migration across Central America and the Caribbean. Here is what he had to say.

Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister

“Of course the topic of irregular migration is always front and center in our minds and I am pleased we are grappling with it in a unified way. We have to be unified in our efforts if we are to have results. We have to be coordinated and unified. We cannot do it alone. Our countries cannot do it alone. We have to go at it together. When we try to tackle such vexing issues on our own then we fall woefully short. If we are together then we are giving ourselves a chance at success. My only disappointment is that the language of the declaration was watered down some, watered down too much to remove references of Cuba and the U.S. There was one proposed point in the declaration that was calling for the governments of Cuba and the U.S. to commence dialogue in the shortest possible time to improve relations but it was removed. Excellencies it has been too long. This blockade against Cuba, six decades has been too long. Now there is this unilateral designation of a state that sponsors terrorism. The damages to the state and people of Cuba are incalculable. And I am not even speaking to the damage that unilateral coercive measures have caused to Venezuela. It is acts like these that drive irregular migration. We have seen that three quarters of the irregular migrants come from Venezuela. Last night we even removed a benign but important line in the document that recognize the latest progress being made between Venezuela and U.S. I just cannot understand why it is that a declaration on irregular migration from our regional heads cannot clearly call out the unilateral coercive measures against the people of Cuba and Venezuela considering what those inhumane actions have done to cause suffering and irregular migration over the longest time.”