President Maduro Proposes to Parliament the Rescue of the History of Jean Baptiste Bideau

In a Special Session held on Saturday at the Saint Lucia Parliament, the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, proposed the creation of a High Level Commission between the two countries for the 2017 commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Martyrdom of the great Caribbean and Latin American Patriot, Captain Jean Baptiste Bideau.

Jean Baptiste Bideau was born on the island of St. Lucia in 1780, and from 1811 participated in the War of Independence of Venezuela, under the orders of Simon Bolivar and General Santiago Marino. He became the Governor of East Venezuela during that time.

He also accompanied The Liberator on his expedition from Haiti to Venezuela, and saved the life of Simon Bolivar on July 14, 1816, in Ocumare de la Costa, in the central region of Venezuela.

April 7, 1817, he gave his life for the cause of independence whilst defending the Strong House of Barcelona, in Cumana, East Venezuela.

At the Special Session of Parliament, the Venezuelan President stressed the importance of the union of our peoples in the reconstruction of the historical memory of our past, “We must have a single destination: unity, freedom, integration of peoples and the construction of happiness based on the equality of our countries.”

Maduro also recalled: “the Commander Hugo Chavez told us back in 1994 -1995, the 21st century will be the century of Latin America and the Caribbean. Only unity will strengthen our identity and our right to independence, Unity will allow us to introduce ourselves to the world as a block of hope and strength.”

In this regard, he said that Venezuela sees the Caribbean as a zone of peace, prosperity and shared development as we continue to build ties, projects, and policies that bring our peoples closer together.

However, he stressed that our difficulties are many and there are multiple interests that conspire against the main objective of unity of Latin American and the Caribbean.

He finally added that the Caribbean should have a new integrated productive economy, and should become a great zone for the movement of economic investment.

“We have come to learn from the experiences of our sister nations of the Caribbean, its history and its search and have come to give our true love, a love that solidifies the solidarity taught by our Commander Hugo Chavez.”

He ended by giving thanks for the opportunity to share his reflections before the Parliament of Saint Lucia.