- Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
Alfonso Silva Navarro... longing to explore Jamaica.
Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter
THE NEW Chilean Ambassador to Jamaica, Alfonso Silva Navarro, already has one regret about his stay - that he hasn't seen enough of the island.
"I arrived at the end of March ... but because of my schedule with CARICOM as permanent representative I have been away several times. I have my residence in Kingston so I have not been able to go to the north coast. My only opportunity was that I landed in Montego Bay to change planes so I saw the area from the plane but that was too far," he laughed.
His travels have taken him to Barbados, Antigua and other islands, so he knows the coastline of many islands but not Jamaica, something he is looking to rectify soon.
The jovial ambassador from the central Chilean town of Talca chatted with The Sunday Gleaner in his office on Tuesday over a cup of coffee, Jamaican of course. In fact, that is just one of the things he has fallen in love with from the island.
"I enjoy the people, the culture, the music, the food, everything and work. I think that for any diplomat that works here, they will find it very easy to dialogue with the persons from the foreign ministry," he said.
This is Mr. Navarro's first posting as an ambassador though he has served in the diplomatic field in various posts including consul-general in Barcelona, Spain, and deputy chief of mission in Uruguay.
An extremely polite person, he refused to light his cigarette until he was 100 per cent satisfied we wouldn't mind.
WANTED TO BE A DIPLOMAT
He is not only Chile's ambassador to Jamaica, but the majority of the Caribbean. In fact, only the Bahamas, Belize, Suriname, Haiti and Barbados do not come under his jurisdiction. No wonder he has little time to see the island.
He used to play a lot of tennis in the past but a knee injury put the skids on that. Now he swims to keep himself fit and sometimes does some hiking; which makes Jamaica the perfect island with Blue Mountain Peak just waiting for him.
He expressed that he always wanted to be diplomat. "I always wanted to meet people so I thought to myself that if I were in the foreign service then I would get to meet people not just by travelling there but living there. Not as a tourist but I like to go where the local people go. See what they do, how they do it and why they do it."
UNIQUE
He finds Jamaica quite unique among its Caribbean neighbours in part because of the mixture of mountains and shorelines. Ironically, he is from Chile, which is perhaps the most unique country in South America.
"There is a saying that when the world was being created God had a bunch of leftovers; a bit of desert, snow, ice, sea and he took the whole package and dumped it at the edge of the world that's Chile. It's probably one of the few places in the world where you could go skiing in the morning and swimming in the afternoon," he smirked.
He feels that Jamaicans and Chileans are similar, including the love for sports and positions on certain world issues.
The 53 year-old ambassador is in the island with his wife Ada and son Benjamin, whom he describes as a "big soccer fan". One of the first activities that the family enjoyed was the the game between Jamaica and Honduras.
"Now he's all over the place cheering for the Reggae Boyz. So now he has two worries; to get Chile to the World Cup but also Jamaica."
He feels that he has big shoes to fill in his time here in Jamaica because of the sterling work done by his predecessors Jaime Jana, Adolfo Carafi and, especially, Fernando Pardo.
"I am aware of his commitment and his work and I an just beginning to follow up his work and his effort. He has left me a very high level of understanding and friendship with the Jamaican community and I am ready to use those links he has provided, to maintain them and perhaps, enhance them."
We're sure he can, if he could just get to stay here long enough.
