The PNCR said on Tuesday that the Cubana Flight 455 disaster is an incident which the Guyanese people and indeed the rest of the region should not easily forget as it represents one of the most deadly terrorist airline attacks in the western hemisphere. The main opposition party in a statement said that October 6th marks the 33rd Anniversary of the tragedy which engulfed Cubana Flight 455 over Barbados in which all 73 passengers on board were killed, including eleven Guyanese, five Koreans and the rest being Cubans.
With the passage of time, the PNCR said, it is easy to forget the political climate of that period which was marked by the Cold War when most developing countries believed that non-alignment and socialist values were essential to rapid economic development.
Guyana in particular had nationalized the bauxite industry in 1970 and the sugar industry in 1976 and the nation seemed poised for greater success under socialism.
However, that success attracted bitter attacks and threats of sabotage to those who discountenance the idea of social justice and equality, the PNCR noted. It is significant, the party added, that this terrorist attack was intended as a way of frustrating Cuba from pursuing the path of development consistent with their political, economic and social values.
The PNCR quoted the then Prime Minister, L.F.S. Burnham as saying on the same day the tragedy occurred, “They died because there are some in this world, and more particularly in this hemisphere, who do not accept the right of a people to fashion their own destinies and to dictate their own goals.”
Remembering the victims of the Cubana airline disaster, the PNCR said that their deaths “continue to remind us that the building of a nation and the goal of self-determination are difficult and arduous tasks, but they must be undertaken if countries like Guyana are to fashion the kind of society in which their people can flourish and prosper.”