Suriname, a former Dutch colony, is home to 500,000 people in this country sandwiched between Guyana to the west, French Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south. Half the country's people reside in Paramaribo, on the Atlantic coast, the nation's capital. On January 14, 2010 Suriname opened a new embassy in Cuba, deepening relations with their Latin American neighbor after more than 30 years of diplomatic interaction.
New Surinamese Embassy in Cuba
Suriname and Cuba established diplomatic ties in 1979, just four years after Suriname gained full independence from the Netherlands. Cuban-Surinamese relations have been friendly in the ensuing years, as Suriname turned to Cuba for assistance in 1983 after the U.S. and the Netherlands cut off aid to Suriname following the "December killings," in which members of the Surinamese military killed 15 members of an opposition party.
Cuban-Surinamese Relations and Suriname History
The embassy is the first in Suriname history in Cuba. A Cuban embassy opened in Paramaribo in 2006. Suriname's foreign minister, Lygia Kraag-Keteldijk, met with Cuba's foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parilla, for the January 14, 2010 ceremony opening the Surinamese embassy in the Mirabar Business Center in Havana. In addition to the formal ceremony opening the new Surinamese embassy the two foreign ministers discussed the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake which caused casualties of up to 200,000 and led to widespread international humanitarian efforts. Both foreign ministers promised aid from their respective countries and discussed greater regional cooperation for similar events.
Cuba Trains Health Care Workers in Suriname
As Periodico 26 notes in its January 2010 article "Suriname Embassy Opened in Havana, Kraag-Keteldijk specifically noted that positive bilateral relations between the two countries, as well as health care training programs from Cuban health care providers "have played a decisive part in the promotion of the exchange, and they constitute a valuable contribution to the realization of our national objectives for development." One such program, the Miracle free eye care program, has helped more than 25,000 Surinamese nationals with vision care.
The Medical Brigade in Cuba has sent doctors and nurses to Suriname since 2007 as part of a health care worker training program in areas that include haemodialysis to improve public health, health care infrastructure, and overall medical education in the country.
References:
Suriname Embassy Opened in Havana, Periodico 26
Cuban vice president meets with foreign minister from Suriname, Caribbean Net News
Gowricharn, Ruben. "The Janus Face of Transnational Citizenship Surinamese Experiences," Caribbean Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1, Jan.-June 2004.
Melanie Zoltan - Melanie Zoltan is a former college professor and administrator who has written for About.com, PCWorld, Brain Child, Thomson Gale, and ...
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