http://themilitant.com/2017/8126/812606.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 81/No. 26 July 17, 2017
(front page)
Canada tour builds support for Cuban Revolution
BY MICHEL DUGRÉ
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Luis Morlote Rivas, first vice president
of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC) and a member of the
Cuban National Assembly, and Sandra Ramírez and Yamil Martínez, both
directors of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP),
spoke to several hundred people on a tour of Canada at the beginning of
June. The Cuban revolutionaries spoke in Toronto, Niagara Falls,
Winnipeg and Vancouver.
“Since Dec. 17, 2014, [when U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban
President Raúl Castro moved to establish diplomatic relations] the U.S.
government has imposed fines on 11 institutions — seven U.S. and four
foreign — of over $2.8 billion. There is an economic war against our
country,” Ramírez told a public meeting of over 60 here June 10. The
U.S. government continues to routinely sanction businesses maintaining
even remote relations with Cuba.
Referring to Guantánamo, the U.S.-occupied Cuban territory where the
U.S. runs a notorious prison for people Washington accuses of supporting
terrorism, she said, “Guantánamo is more than a prison. It’s a province
in Cuba. The best part of the harbor belongs to the U.S. Cuban fishermen
dream of being able to fish there.” The Canadian Network on Cuba
conference attended by the Cuban representatives June 3-4 in Toronto
voted to demand Washington’s immediate withdrawal from Guantánamo and an
end to the economic blockade.
Urging participants to organize actions across the continent in October
to coincide with the annual United Nations vote on the continuing U.S.
assault on the Cuban Revolution, Ramírez said, “I don’t know what Trump
will do but I know what Cuba will continue to do — building socialism,
defending our social conquests.”
“Cuba is showing how to build a new society, a better society,” said
Martínez, from the Canada desk of ICAP, “where the workers are heard,
where the interests of the working class are put at stake.
“Cuba must do what’s possible to be self-sufficient in food. We need to
increase exports and decrease imports. We remember the Special Period
when the Soviet Union collapsed and the challenges and difficult times
our people faced,” he said. “But nothing shook the people’s political
support for the government. As long as there is a socialist revolution
in Cuba, these conquests will remain.”
Morlote Rivas was the featured speaker at a public meeting June 3 in
Toronto, held during the 8th convention of the Canadian Network on Cuba.
One participant in the meeting expressed concern for the effects of the
constant barrage of U.S. propaganda aimed at the Cuban people. “We don’t
censor anything coming from the U.S.,” Morlote said. “The way forward is
to deepen the revolution.”
Those interested in learning firsthand about the Cuban Revolution can
sign up for the volunteer “In Che’s Footsteps” international brigade
October 1-15. Contacting ICAP at alatina.csur@xxxxxxx, or call (778)
879-2759 in Vancouver or the Chicago Cuba Coalition at (312) 952-2618 in
the U.S.
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