N E W S   Last updated: Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 12:01pm EST

Ambassador Represents Region in Paying Tribute to Simon Bolivar

WASHINGTON DC (JIS): Friday, July 23, 2010

Ambassador to the United States and Jamaica's Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Ambassador Audrey Marks.

In her first act as Chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Caucus of Ambassadors in Washington, D.C., Jamaica's Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Ambassador Audrey Marks represented the region in paying tribute to the Liberator, Simon Bolívar, of Venezuela.

Addressing a Protocolary meeting of the OAS Permanent Council on July 21, the Ambassador saluted Bolivar's "legacy and commitment to the principle of hemispheric unity, co-operation, and development."

The meeting, which was held in the organisation's Simon Bolivar Room, was called specifically to mark the 227th anniversary of Bolívar's birth on July 24, 1783, in Caracas, Venezuela. It followed a wreath-laying ceremony at a statue of Bolivar in downtown Washington, D.C.

Mrs. Marks said that in seeking to fulfil Bolivar's legacy, "we have the opportunity to utilise the OAS and the Summit of the Americas process to showcase and draw on the rich diversity of its membership."

Citing ways in which Bolivar's vision has been kept alive, Ambassador Marks said that the spirit of unity, collaboration and commitment to self-reliance and regional integration that he had envisaged, "have indeed been evident in the increasing programmes of co-operation and partnership in the region," including the PetroCaribe Framework Agreement, to which a number of CARICOM governments are signatories.

She said Jamaica itself has immortalised Bolivar's contribution to humanity and to the social and political development of the Americas, in the various monuments, research documents, and historical institutions established in his honour. "In Jamaica, a statue of Bolivar stands in the vicinity of our National Heroes Park to commemorate the time he spent on the island," said the Ambassador, noting that other "beautiful statues of Simon Bolivar" have been erected elsewhere throughout the Caribbean region.

Pointing to Bolivar's famous 'Letter to Jamaica', which he wrote in 1815 during his exile in the island, Mrs. Marks said it articulated his dream to free the continent of the yoke of imperialism. It also proclaimed his vision for a New World, and bore testimony to his commitment to the principles of hemispheric unity, co-operation and development, "principles we still aspire to today," she added.

Mrs. Marks, who is also Ambassador to the United States, assumed the Caucus leadership on July 1, when Prime Minister, Hon. Bruce Golding assumed the chairmanship of CARICOM.