CARICOM Diplomat Denounces Terrorism Past and Present at Cubana Tragedy Memorial

Ambassador David Comissiong calls for US to end Cuba blockade, highlights Gaza and Sudan crises at 49th anniversary commemoration

PAYNES BAY, Barbados – In a forceful address on the morning of Monday 6th October 2025, marking the 49th anniversary of the Cubana Airlines bombing, Barbados Ambassador David Comissiong linked the 1976 terrorist attack that killed 73 people to contemporary global conflicts, while demanding the United States remove Cuba from its State Sponsors of Terrorism list and end its 63-year economic blockade.

Speaking at the annual memorial ceremony in Paynes Bay, St. James, which also marked the third anniversary of CARICOM-Cuba Day Against Terrorism, Comissiong characterized the October 6, 1976 bombing as "our Caribbean 9/11, some 25 years before the events of September 11, 2001."

The attack on Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 claimed 57 Cuban lives, including young athletes, 11 Guyanese nationals—seven of them medical students—and five North Koreans.

The aircraft crashed into waters off Barbados after bombs planted by operatives detonated shortly after takeoff from the Seawell Airport.

Justice Denied

Comissiong expressed "profound regret" that masterminds Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles "were never properly brought to justice," noting they "were protected by powerful forces; lived out their last years in the United States of America; and went to their graves unpunished."

The Ambassador did acknowledge Barbados's role in securing arrests and prosecutions of Freddy Lugo and Hernan Ricardo Lozano, the Venezuelan functionaries who planted the bomb. He quoted former Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon's praise: "Barbados and Trinidad, it must be said, acted with great dignity and honour and carried out a meticulous, rigorous, serious investigation."

Among attendees was Odalys Perez, daughter of the flight's heroic pilot, Captain Wilfredo Perez, underscoring the enduring personal impact of the tragedy on victims' families.

Zone of Peace Initiative

Comissiong detailed how the Cubana tragedy catalyzed two significant regional initiatives. The first was establishing the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, formalized through a 1979 Organization of American States resolution sponsored by Grenada under Prime Minister Maurice Bishop.

"Some elements of our Caribbean political class don't quite understand what that concept means," Comissiong stated, explaining the designation requires rejection of the region as any power's sphere of influence and commitment to ideological pluralism and peaceful coexistence.

He criticized recent U.S. military activities in Southern Caribbean waters targeting Venezuela, calling them "a clear violation of the concept of our Caribbean being a Zone of Peace."

The second initiative was establishing October 6 as CARICOM-Cuba Day Against Terrorism in 2022, recognizing the Cubana bombing as "the first act of terrorism of such a magnitude involving a civilian aircraft full of passengers."

Contemporary Terrorism

Linking historical and current events, Comissiong quoted Prime Minister Mia Mottley's recent UN General Assembly address highlighting crises in Sudan and Gaza. He emphasized her words about 260,000 people trapped in Sudan's al-Fashir and the "genocidal destruction" in Gaza, demanding immediate UN intervention to end what he called "reprehensible terrorism and genocide."

Cuba's Continuing Ordeal

The Ambassador catalogued terrorist acts against Cuba since 1959, including the 1960 La Coubre explosion killing 70 people, the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, the 1981 deliberate introduction of hemorrhagic dengue fever, and 1998 hotel bombings orchestrated by Posada Carriles.

Comissiong reserved particular criticism for the U.S. economic blockade, now in its 63rd year, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's January 2021 decision to place Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list "in the last and dying days of the Trump Presidency No 1."

"Far from being a perpetrator or sponsor of terrorism, Cuba has in fact been the victim of no less than 713 acts of terrorism," Comissiong stated, noting most were "organized, financed and executed by persons or organizations that are based in or that find refuge in the territory of the United States."

Direct Appeal

Concluding his address, Comissiong issued a direct challenge to the current U.S. administration: "President Trump: Do the right and honourable thing! Terminate the illegal blockade of Cuba, and remove Cuba from its thoroughly undeserved placement on your State Department's List of Sponsors of Terrorism!"

He reminded that for 32 consecutive years, the UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted that the U.S. blockade is illegal and must be terminated, underscoring international consensus against American policy toward Cuba.

-30-