The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.59/No.24           June 19, 1995 
 
 
Youth Festival: `See Cuba For Yourself'  

BY LAURA GARZA

Come see Cuba for yourself. That has been the invitation offered from Brazil to the Philippines, from Nicaragua to the United States, as representatives of Cuban youth groups have been traveling around the world discussing the Cuban revolution and learning about conditions of life and the struggles of workers and youth in other countries. They are encouraging young people and others to attend the Cuba Lives International Youth Festival in Havana August 1-7. Francisco Beteta Herrera, a leader of the Union of Young Communists in Cuba on tour in Nicaragua in May, said they expect at least 1,000 participants from five continents at the event.

And many people are now making plans to get to Cuba. In the Twin Cities, Minnesota, 10 students and other young people have said they want to go. A program of summer activities around Cuba is being organized by the newly formed Twin Cities Cuba Network, including a celebration of the launching of the Cuban revolution, marked by the assault by young rebels led by Fidel Castro on the Moncada barracks on July 26, 1953. The gathering will be a fund-raiser for the Minnesota delegation to the Cuba Lives festival.

The first meeting of the network included leaders of the Guatemala Solidarity Committee, Veterans for Peace, Twin Cities U.S/Cuba Friendshipment Committee, and Socialist Workers Party, as well as students from the University of Minnesota, Normaldale Community College, and Minneapolis Community College.

The group is also concentrating on building one of four regional demonstrations on October 14 to protest the U.S. embargo of Cuba. The demonstrations will take place in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco.

In Chicago several youth are planning fund-raising activities, including some Guatemalan activists who heard Cuban youth leader Kenia Serrano when she visited there recently. Two Lane Tech High School students and three students from the University of Illinois at Champaign also hope to make the trip.

Sylvia Villacis is a Cuban-American student at Florida International University in Miami who is planning to be there when the festival opens. "I've never been to Cuba before. The festival will be a special opportunity to experience Cuba and participate in the discussions going on there," she said.

The Miami Committee Against the U.S. Embargo of Cuba is promoting participation in the festival and helping to raise funds for Miami youth to be in Havana when youth from around the world gather to show their solidarity with Cuba.

The Cuba Information Project in New York is coordinating travel arrangements for those who want to participate in the festival. The cost of the trip from Nassau, Bahamas, or Cancún, Mexico, will be $550, including round-trip airfare to Cuba and meals and lodging during the festival. The departure is planned for July 30. For more information call 212-227-3422.

Many participants are contacting local media outlets to explain the opportunity to have a first-hand report from a worldwide gathering of youth standing up to defend Cuba. Activists pointed out that getting an editorial assignment from a local paper or radio station is possible in every city and is an aid to beginning the work of telling the truth about what they saw in Cuba immediately upon their return.

Jon Hillson in the Twin Cities, Frank Forrestal in Chicago, and Seth Galinsky in Miami contributed to this article.

 
 
 
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