- No other country will dictate to St Vincent (SVG)
- CELAC Summit 2024
On Friday, at the 8th CELAC Summit, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves stated that no one would dictate to St. Vincent a small country shaped by its own experiences.
Gonsalves assured everyone, especially those whose very essences call for subservience and whose impulses lead them towards imperial or hegemonic authority, that such a thing would not happen in St. Vincent. “Not this country,” he stated.
“St. Vincent and the Grenadines will never permit any other country to dictate to us. We will never allow anyone to choose for us, our friends, or our allies.”
“For those who think that we can be bought with blandishments, we do not put a for sale sign in our metaphoric shop window, and determinedly, we are not for sale,” the Caribbean island leader said.
“As a small country, I need to emphasise this so that the message can get clear that we are not like that. We in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are not better than anyone, but no one is better than us. We are small, but we have a history of authenticity, of struggle, of achievement, we possess nobility, we are a special part of the great Latin American and Caribbean civilizations, and we have a trajectory for further and ennoblement”.
Gonsalves stated that the nation relies on its people’s genius in a never-ending search for self-mastery, but always in solidarity with like-minded peoples around the globe.
“We are friends of all, and we strive for a different and better world. We are part of an island and a seaboard civilization. A land of liberty, democracy, and progress made by our own hands and brains in solidarity with our friends and allies, we guard our independence and sovereignty jealously,” Gonsalves stated.
