ACS Secretary General’s Christmas Message S.E. Rodolfo Sabonge

ACS Secretary General’s Christmas Message S.E. Rodolfo Sabonge

Dear Greater Caribbean Family,

It’s Christmas! And despite the challenges and rough times, we are here, able to wish each other “season’s greetings” and “many happy returns”. Indeed it is perhaps because we continue to face the challenges and weather the rough times that it is befitting that we cherish this season and all that it represents - new life, love and hope. The COVID-19 pandemic has cost us dearly, but it has also gathered us together in an embrace of survival. It has rekindled our collective compassion, solidarity, grit and resilience, and this season, as we light our Christmas candles, it behoves us to reflect on what is precious, what truly counts and what will take us through and out of darkness. The story of the Christ child is a miraculous one, all the more beautiful and tender for the sacrifice that is woven into it.

Our human civilisation has, in the last 2 years, suffered and sacrificed. It is time to look forward. So, as we each prepare for this festive season and a new year, as families meet and friends gather physically or virtually, let us be safe, responsible and grateful, buoyed by the knowledge that our family of nations is greater together. Our Greater Caribbean has overcome many challenges and unity will give the strength to overcome this one.

On behalf of the Membership of the Association of Caribbean States, I take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you the very best for this holy, holiday season.

About the ACS

The Association of Caribbean States is the organization for consultation, cooperation and concerted action in trade, transport, sustainable tourism and natural disasters in the Greater Caribbean. Its Member States are Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela. Its Associate Members are Aruba, Curacao, (France on behalf of French Guiana, Saint Barthelemy and Saint Martin ), Guadeloupe, Martinique, Sint Maarten, (The Netherlands on behalf of Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius ), Turks and Caicos.