• Category

  • Content Type

Advertisement

Cuba’s Vice President gets Red Carpet Welcome at Jose Marti

February 4, 2005

The Full Story

Cuba’s Vice President, Dr. Carlos Lage Davila, who is in the island for the inaugural China-Caribbean Trade Forum and Fair, visited the Jose Marti Technical High School on Thursday (Feb. 3), where he was given a red carpet welcome by school officials.
On arriving at the St. Catherine school, Dr. Lage Davila, who was accompanied by Education, Youth and Culture Minister, Maxine Henry Wilson, was treated to music from the school’s band after which students recited a poem in Spanish.
After the short welcome ceremony, school officials, led by principal Bever Moodie, took Dr. Lage and Minister Henry Wilson on a tour of the school, which the Cuban government had built some 30 years ago.
Among areas visited were the Home Economics department, where a class was in session and the library where the Vice President presented books on the life of Cuban Jose Marti, for whom the school was named to librarian, Janet Williams.
At a function held in the lecture theatre after the tour, Dr. Lage Davila encouraged the students to appreciate the importance of studying, and realise that, “there is no development for a country without education.”
The Vice President, who spoke through a translator, told the students that Cuba, like Jamaica was facing economic difficulties, but his government was placing emphasis on education, with the realisation that education was the most viable way of boosting the human resource capacity of any nation.
“Without education, there is no development or freedom,” he stressed, noting further, that education equipped persons with the knowledge to know their rights.
In her remarks, Minister Henry Wilson said that the Jose Marti school, represented an historic and symbolic landmark of friendship between Jamaica and Cuba. She said that Jamaica was grateful to Cuba for the gift and “the school represents our commitment to education and will ensure that it provides for as diverse talents as possible.”
Jose Marti is one of three schools, which the Cuban government helped to construct in Jamaica. The other two are the Garvey Maceo High School and G. C. Foster College. Jose Marti has an enrolment of 1,113 students.

Last Updated: February 4, 2005

Skip to content