Quotable Caribbean — Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados

“The Birdie was … a Caribbean intellectual. And in the same way Sir Garry understood and redefined physics on the cricket field, Slinger Francisco defined for an entire region what it means to be a total man, reflecting not only on the philosophy and the politics, but reminding us that it is in the most intimate of moments, it is in the understanding of who we are, and it is the expression of that — from levity to seriousness — that he gave us an interpretation of the Caribbean. We thank you for that. We wish you could be with us forever. But we are comforted by the fact that your music and performances shall forever tell the story of the early Caribbean, according to us, not anyone else.” — Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados