Barbadians were on Wednesday morning lining up outside the historic Kensington Oval in Bridgetown in their thousands to bid farewell to the island’s late Prime Minister David Thompson.
Mr Thompson’s state funeral attracted several Caricom heads of government who wanted to champion his contribution to Barbadian and Caribbean development.
Caricom Chairman, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding delivered a special tribute on behalf of the regional grouping.
Mr Golding lamented that “someone with so much promise … should have been taken from us so soon”.
He observed too that David Thompson was a man who could be taken at his word.
Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit wasn’t able to attend the funeral because his country is on Wednesday celebrating its 32nd anniversary of political independence.
But Prime Minister Skerrit called for a minute’s silence during his official Independence Day address, describing David Thompson as “a brother, a Caribbean visionary and an integrationist”.
“Comrade Thompson was a statesman of great valour, ” Mr Skerrit said, adding that he regretted that he was “unable to be in Barbados to bid a dear friend and colleague farewell”.