By Godwin Ligo
Former Prime Minister and First Vanuatu Roving Ambassador, Barak Sopé, yesterday expressed his personal tribute to the late Fidel Castro of Cuba who died late last week.
Speaking from his home on Ifira in a telephone interview with the Daily Post, Barak Sopé, who was one of the young political activists for the Vanuatu independence during the New Hebrides era, related how Cuba was the first country in the world to support the then New Hebrides for a political freedom from the two colonial powers, Britain and France.
“In 1977 Father Walter Lini (late) and I were present during a UN Committee of 24th on Decolonization in New York.
“This was the first time that the Vanuatu cry for political independence was heard by the UN Committee of the 24th on Decolonization.
“It was through the Cuban President Fidel Castro, at the time that Cuba became the first country in the world to sponsor the then New Hebrides application to the UN 24th Committee on Decolonization in 1977.
“So, Father Walter Lini (late) who was the President of the Vanua’aku Party and I made a trip to New York to be present during the UN Committee of 24th on Decolonization to listen to the debate for our freedom,” Barak Sope recalled.
“It was timely too because Cuba did not only sponsor Vanuatu’s application to the UN Committee of 24th on Decolonization, but it so happened that at the time, Cuba chaired the UN Committee of 24th on Decolonization, and so we knew, with hope that our political freedom was eminent, with Cuba Ambassador appointed by President Fidel Castro to Chair the UN Committee of 24th on Decolonization,” Sopé recalled.
He said it was through the two roles that Cuba played at the time that the UN Committee of 24th on Decolonization shepherded Vanuatu’s application through.
Sopé said other countries that supported the then New Hebrides in its initial stages for political freedom through the UN were Algeria and Tanzania.
“After Independence in 1980, I was appointed by Vanuatu’s first Prime Minister Father Walter Lini (late) as Vanuatu’s first Roving Ambassador and Secretary for Foreign Affairs, because the Foreign Affairs at the time were under the Prime Minister’s portfolio.
“In August 1981 Prime Minister Father Walter Lini appointed me as a Special Envoy to travel to Havana, Cuba, to deliver Vanuatu’s Special Message of “thank you and appreciation” to Cuban President Fidel Castro, and at the same time formalized diplomatic relations with Cuba that saw Vanuatu flag raised in Havana.
“I could not travel through the US at the time, so I had to make a long trip via UK and Canada and then to Havana, Cuba where I was accorded a high level welcome and personally me President Fidel Castro, in his Presidential Palace.
“I extended to him on behalf of the Government and the people of Vanuatu, deep appreciation for the support that President Fidel Castro and his country that paved the way from Havana to the corridors of the United Nations and finally to the Committee of the 24th on Decolonization that released our colonized country and people from Britain and France to become the Independent state and the new Republic of Vanuatu,” Sopé said.
“Port Vila tied diplomatic relations with Havana in August 1981 before becoming a full member of the United Nations (UN) in September of 1981-the same year, but we recognized Cuba first because without Cuba and President Fidel Castro, it may have taken longer or never for this country to become an Independent State from Britain and France,” Barak Sope recalled.
“In 1977 Father Walter Lini and I attended the UN Decolonization Committee in informal clothing but in 1981 we attended the UN General Assembly for the first time after Independence where Father Walter Lini the first Vanuatu Prime Minister addressed the UN General Assembly for the first time as an Independent State and as the UN welcomed Vanuatu as its full member.
“Today, I am sad to say that Vanuatu has lost its first political pillar of our political freedom, the late President Fidel Castro. Personally, and of course the country has lost a man that stood up for the right of the political freedom of our nation and people in international forum and the United Nations. We truly miss him,” Sopé noted of the passing away of Cuba’s former President, Fidel Castro.
The former Cuban President Fidel Castro handed his responsibilities in 2006 to Raul Castor.
He died at the age of 90 on November 25, 2016.
The relations with Cuba was enhanced further when the country provided scholarships for ni-Vanuatu to attend medical school there to become doctors.
