Minister of Education, Curtis King has extended gratitude to the Government and people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and highlighted the importance of the fortieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

His commendations were made on Thursday, December 16 at a virtual cultural academic activity to close the October-December 2021 term of the different levels of Spanish, and the formative workshops of music (cuatro), and Latin American and Caribbean literature, states a release from the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

“Our relationship has grown tremendously over these 40 years and we have experienced mutual benefits from that relationship, but let me focus on the tremendous support that we here in St Vincent have received from that relationship in the field of agriculture, in the field of education and in the field of energy,” the education minister said.

…In the field of agriculture we have the Vincyfresh company, and in the educational area there are so many things that can be highlighted such as the acquisition of the first … laptops that our primary school students received (about seven thousand), which were distributed as part of the ‘one laptop per child’ initiative, in addition to highlighting all the effort that the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela is making through its diplomatic mission to continue teaching the Spanish language to the Vincentian people despite the great moments of difficulty that we are going through due to the sanctions of the U.S. government”.

The Embassy noted the 40 years of diplomatic and cultural relations between both nations ; 20 years since the first visit of Commander Hugo Chávez Frías; and 191 years since the physical departure of the Liberator Simón Bolívar that were all wrapped into the December 16 celebrations.
More than 35 Vincentian students who passed Spanish courses in levels 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 demonstrated the learning obtained in this trimester through a range of performances.

Andreína Bermúdez, Co-ordinator of the IVCC thanked all the students, teachers and the Government of SVG for their support and stressed the importance of learning the Spanish language.

“Spanish is urgent and necessary in our region because we need to consolidate our relations; but more than that we need to protect each other from foreign forces that seek to interfere with our sovereignty and international principles. One of the best ways to be brothers and sisters is through language because in each language we have specific linguistic and communicational references that only the people who speak that specific language know,” she said.

“As the philosopher says, ‘Language is the house where the being dwells’.”

Student Rita Alexander of Spanish level 3 thanked the Bolivarian Government especially the IVCC team noting: “We are grateful for this opportunity,” and invited all the students to continue practising the language.

In turn; Caliesha Waldron from level 6 expressed that: “The teachers of the institute did everything possible to comply with all the protocols against COVID-19 so that we could study in a safe and healthy environment; the students are eternally grateful for all the effort that has been made to guarantee the learning of the Spanish language…on behalf of the people of St Vincent we thank the Embassy, the Institute and all the teachers, not only for teaching us the language but also the Venezuelan culture, thank you”.

Professor Violeta Gutiérrez also highlighted the importance of the Institute for the Vincentian people saying that, “It has made the teaching of the Spanish language a pillar for Vincentian citizens who have witnessed the intense collaboration between two sister countries, St Vincent and Venezuela on this 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The friendship and collaboration has grown even closer and we are part of this bond”.

The Spanish language and other cultural programmes are offered by the Venezuelan Embassy through the Venezuelan Institute for Culture and Co-operation.

As is the tradition, the students demonstrated their level of learning; the level 1 group presented “Christmas in the Caribbean”; the level 2 group recited Nicolás Guillén’s poem “Tengo”, the level 3 students presented “Preparing for Christmas”; the level 5 group conducted an interview on “Christmas in a foreign country”; and the level 6 group presented “literary resources: parody, satire and irony”. The students belonging to the didactic workshops also demonstrated their skills. The Latin American and Caribbean Literature workshop presented a newsreel of what is currently happening in the Caribbean and the Cuatro workshop, as always, added a touch of musical magic with presentations of Venezuelan Christmas songs such as: adorar al niño, corre caballito, cantares de navidad and Faltan 5 pa’las doce.

Francisco Pérez Santana, Head of the Venezuelan diplomatic mission congratulated all the students for continuing their Spanish studies and going one step further.

“Today you have reached a goal to go one step further in learning a new language, a beautiful language like Spanish, the second most spoken language in the world… this Institute is very important to us, for the Venezuelan government,” he emphasised.

“This Institute is named after Hugo Chávez Frías because he was the one who encouraged us to do this, to teach our language and to share and teach our culture”.

The head of the Venezuelan diplomatic mission explained the current economic situation in Venezuela and the difficulties faced by the Venezuelan people due to the imposition of unilateral coercive measures imposed by the US government against the Venezuelan people and assured that Venezuelans are “suffering the coercive measures of the gringo government” as he underlined the words of prime minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves at the Alba-TCP Summit held on December 14, 2021 in Cuba: “When you sanction Venezuela you also sanction the peoples of the Caribbean”.
The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela continues to work to strengthen relations of brotherhood and solidarity with the peoples of the world, putting Bolivarian Peace Diplomacy into practice, the release concludes.