CARICOM Secretary-General deeply saddened by Barbados PM’s death

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) On learning of the passing on Saturday morning of the Honourable David Thompson Prime Minister of Barbados, CARICOM Secretary-General His Excellency Edwin Carrington, in Grenada for the activities surrounding Caribbean Week of Agriculture and the meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development, expressed deep sadness at the news.

“We had all been generally aware of the serious nature of his affliction with pancreatic cancer but had been hoping and praying that somehow he would have overcome this challenge. Well it was not to be and we are all deeply saddened by his passing,” the Secretary-General said.
“His short term as Prime Minister of Barbados and thus Member of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community did not afford him the opportunity and scope to make the full contribution his talents promised to bring to the integration process at that level,” he added.
Mr. Carrington said that Mr. Thompson’s deliberate, evidence-based approach to issues and the search for their resolution, while not always popular, sought to provide a well-grounded basis for decision making.
“His calm, deliberate manner also served to facilitate the discussions of the most delicate and difficult matters at the highest level. Those said qualities endeared him to most of us,” the Secretary-General stated.
“To his wife Mara, his daughters and other members of his family and to the Government and people of Barbados, we join in mourning the loss of this outstanding Caribbean son of the soil,” Mr. Carrington ended.