He said that his government is ramping up reconstruction on the Southern Grenadines but cannot find enough construction workers.

“As you notice, it is very difficult to live on Union Island at the moment but you can carry the testimony as to how you have done it,” he said at a cocktail reception in Villa to thank the 14 Cuban linesmen who spend three months on Union Island helping to restore the electricity grid there.

“You have now assisted in bringing back the electricity and you now have more electricity power than houses to connect the electricity so we now have to build the houses. It is a practical matter so that’s something which we have to pursue in the next few weeks.”

Gonsalves said there are construction workers from St. Lucia, Scotland and Romania in Union Island, noting that they did not come to the country through governmental arrangements.

“And there are other countries in the Caribbean who would very much like to help St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada to rebuild their housing stock but they themselves do not have enough construction workers,” the prime minister said.

“I tell you, if I get 15 construction workers from Cuba, they will do remarkable work, just as you have done,” he told the linesmen.

“The jefe of VINLEC told me we will have completed everything for electricity by the end of January,” he said, adding that the country does not have enough transformers to complete the grid, amidst a shortage globally.

“There is a long timeline between ordering and getting transformers. In fact, if we can get them by the middle of January, it will be remarkable work on the park of VINLEC,” the prime minister said.

He commended the work of VINLEC, saying the state-owned company has done exceptional work in ensuring the restoration of power in the country after Beryl.

Meanwhile, Gonsalves noted the strong links between SVG and Cuba across administrations in Kingstown. “We have had a history of good relations but since my government came to office in 2001, the relationship has gotten far closer,” he said.

He noted that SVG and Cuba are both members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). “Our two countries are strongly anti-imperialists and SVG is at the forefront of countries in the world defending the sovereignty and independence of Cuba always.”

Gonsalves said Cuba has made an immense contribution not only to SVG but to the whole of the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa.

He said that every year at the United Nations, SVG sponsors a resolution denouncing “the criminal blockage and illegal sanctions of the United States against Cuba. “In all our encounters with the United States of America, who are our friends, we tell them that their policy towards Cuba is wrong.”

Gonsalves expressed hope that the new Trump administration which comes to office in Washington in January “may take a different turn in the US but I doubt that very much. “Because the new secretary of state under President-elect Trump has a well-known history of antagonism towards Cuba,” Gonsalves said.

“But, stranger things have happened, so we have to work for change.”

He said that over the last 24 years, Cuba has made important contributions to the development of SVG, including helping to build Argyle International Airport, construction of the Modern Medical and Diagnostic Centre, providing scholarships for students at universities as well as sending to SVG doctors, nurses and experts in agriculture, construction and engineering.

“And of course, now helping us with the rebuilding of our electricity network, in the Southern Grenadines, particularly in Union Island. He said that SVG sent 12 linesmen to Cuba a few years ago after a hurricane destroyed the electricity grid in the Isle of Youth.

“This is part of the friendship and the love,” Gonsalves said, adding that SVG sent US$1 million to Cuba a few weeks after the impact of Hurricane Milton. “This is a very small recompense for all the great work the people of Cuba have done for us in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and we will always help and we will go beyond the normal measure to assist our comrade and friends in Cuba,” Gonsalves said.