BY LAURA GARZA
HAVANA, Cuba - Half a million people filled the length of the Malecón August 5 in a massive show of support for the Cuban revolution. The march along this seaside boulevard was called by the Union of Young Communists (UJC) for the anniversary of the huge pro-revolution mobilizations that were sparked last year by antigovernment disturbances on Havana's waterfront. The demonstration also called for an end to the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba.
The march was part of the week-long Cuba Lives International Youth Festival, which brought together 1,320 people from 67 countries. Young people came to the festival to find out the truth about Cuba and to make plans for worldwide coordinated activities against the imperialist attempts to bring the Cuban people to their knees. Almost all the delegates to the festival joined the march.
Havana was bustling as people on buses, trucks, bicycles, and on foot jammed the streets leading to the waterfront for hours prior to the demonstration. Workers from factories, hospitals, agricultural and construction contingents, students from Havana and other provinces, families with young and old streamed toward the Malecón. Thousands of Cuban flags, colorful banners, and homemade signs dotted the crowd, reading: "Down with the blockade," "I am a revolutionary," and "Long live socialism."
"Down with Helms and Burton," was another popular sign, referring to a bill introduced in the U.S. congress by Senator Jesse Helms and Representative James Burton. The legislation would further tighten Washington's embargo and impose sanctions on companies in other countries for trading with Cuba.
Just when the march was set to begin, a torrential downpour began. But the sudden storm did not deter the thousands of youth and working people.
Soaked within minutes, most in the 300-strong contingent from the United States, began jumping up and down and chanting "Cuba Sí, Bloqueo No," (Cuba yes, blockade no). They were gathered behind a bilingual banner reading, "U.S. youth say end the economic blockade against Cuba."
The crowd marched on. The international contingents were at the head of the mobilization. President Fidel Castro, UJC first secretary Victoria Velázquez, and other Cuban leaders joined the marchers.
"We're not afraid of the rain or of the Americans" who impose the economic blockade, said Manuel Solís Touza, 52. He marched with the ñico López contingent, which is made up of 7,000 workers involved in construction projects. Solís is working on the Hotel Comodoro. The workers in brightly colored T-shirts carried signs reading, "To resist is to win," and "Our dignity is higher than Turquino," referring to the island's tallest mountain peak.
Anniversary of last summer's events
Last year's August 5 riot was initiated by groups of
people who had gathered on the waterfront in the hopes that
a boat would be hijacked, which they could use to get to the
United States. Tensions had been building last summer with a
series of boat hijackings by Cubans who wanted to reach the
shores of Florida, having been denied legal entry by
Washington. Playing on frustrations borne of severe
scarcities of food, fuel, and other basic necessities in
Cuba, the White House welcomed with open arms those
responsible for these incidents, while continuing to deny
virtually anyone a legal route into the United States.
Thwarted in their hijacking attempt, a crowd of a few hundred swarmed along the Malecón throwing rocks and breaking hotel and store windows. They were met by thousands of Cuban workers, who turned out in a show of support for the revolution. Castro soon arrived and succeeded in calming the situation.
Speaking at a rally at the end of this year's march, Castro recalled last year's events. "What did our enemies abroad and their allies inside our country want? They aimed to provoke a bloody confrontation, to force us to use weapons," Castro said. "And we do have weapons, indeed millions of people in this country are armed, and they are the ones who defend the revolution. But we have weapons only to fight the enemies from abroad and to defend ourselves against anyone who tries to shoot at revolutionaries inside Cuba."
Castro explained that he went to the Malecón last year to personally make sure that not a single shot would be fired against those throwing rocks. "And really, what happened was unprecedented," he said. "In a matter of minutes an entire people poured into the streets to reestablish order. Only your massive presence and spirit brought back order, absolutely without using any weapons. "The people crushed the counterrevolution without firing one shot. In what other country of the world does this occur?"
The Cuban president announced on August 5, 1994, that, given Washington's role in encouraging hijackings, Cuba would not be pushed into cracking down against those trying to leave, instead it would allow the departure of all those wanting to get to the United States whether they had permission from Washington or not.
During the next month some 30,000 Cubans left by raft, causing a crisis for the U.S. government, which quickly reversed its policy of openly fomenting the illegal entries. Instead, U.S. president Bill Clinton sent a naval flotilla to intercept the rafters and jam thousands of Cubans into miserable prison camps at the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo - Cuban territory illegally occupied by Washington.
Last September, the White House was forced to agree for the first time to allow a large number of Cubans to emigrate legally - a minimum of 20,000 in the first year - and to refuse entry to those without visas. The U.S. government was also forced by repeated protests of the Cubans at Guantánamo to accept the thousands being held there.
Two days after the August 5, 1994, events a march of half a million was held in response to the provocations and to honor a young police officer who had been slain in a hijacking attempt. A funeral march for a naval officer killed on August 9 also drew tens of thousands in the town of Mariel. For many in Cuba this outpouring of support for the revolution in the midst of hard economic times was a watershed.
At the march one year later, Dania Morgado, 22, explained, "I am here to show I support the revolution." Marta González, from the Cerro neighborhood of Havana, called the demonstration a "defining act."
"I am defending Cuba," added Darelys Alonso Guerra, 16. "What we have the people of the Third World don't have."
At one point, a feeder march into the seaside avenue was nearly stopped by foot-deep water. But the crowd was urged on by Andrés Gómez, head of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, an organization of Cuban-Americans based in Miami who support the revolution. Gómez, like other Cuban-Americans from the Alliance of Workers in the Cuban Community in Miami, the New- Jersey based Cuban American Coalition, and Casa de las Américas in New York, came to take part in the mass mobilization. Gómez addressed the crowd from the balcony of the UJC office for Havana province. The marchers soon plowed into the water to join the bulk of the crowd.
`U.S. out of Guantánamo!'
Just a few blocks down the road, the U.S. contingent
passed the U.S. Interests Section. The youth from the United
States began chanting, "Hey-hey, ho-ho, U.S. out of
Guantánamo!" Cubans standing on the sidewalks or watching
from nearby balconies began smiling and clapping.
"The most impressive thing for me here was that 1,300 delegates from the festival marched with us," said Aishel Amer, 19. "They were mixed in the crowd. With their own banners in English, Spanish, French, and some languages I did not understand. We danced and shouted slogans together, including the `hey-hey, ho-ho' one," she said laughing. "But it became the most popular slogan on the sidewalks as the U.S. group passed by. We're definitely not alone."
"Lift the U.S. Blockade. End UK complicity," read a banner carried by delegates from the United Kingdom. Other sizable contingents came from France, Spain, Brazil, and El Salvador.
`The revolutionaries are winning'
"We're winning. The revolutionaries are winning, that is
what the outpouring for this march shows," said Rubén
Zardoya a professor at the university of Havana who marched
last August and joined this year's march with his wife, Rosa
María, and their four children. "August 5, 1994, drew a
dividing line, a clear mark for the revolution. Since that
time the counterrevolutionaries are on the defensive. Those
who want Fidel out of power, those who want to impose
`market socialism,' those who want the restoration of
capitalism, are on the defensive.
"Since then, words like `class struggle' have become part of the daily vocabulary," Zardoya continued. "During the worst days of the special period, from 1992 to early 1994, if you used terms like `class struggle' or the `dictatorship of the proletariat' you would be openly called a dogmatic dinosaur by many professors at the university. That is not the case now."
Cubans are five years into what they refer to as the special period, a term that describes the conditions that have marked life in Cuba - including frequent blackouts, factory shutdowns, and a sharp drop in agricultural production - since the country lost trade at preferential prices with the former Soviet Union and was abruptly thrust into the world capitalist market.
Obviously moved by the turnout this year, Castro said at the concluding rally, "August 5, 1995, will also be historic, and each year we will have to remember this day, because it says a lot, it shows a lot, and it provides a lot of encouragement." He said he could imagine how a march of a few hundred or even a few thousand would have been portrayed around the world as a blow against the revolution, and not a single news report would have mentioned the pouring rain.
"But what an extraordinary response," he said, giving special thanks to the people of Havana who came out in large numbers. "Because it's precisely in the capital where the problems are the most acute, where we have the biggest shortages in housing, water, transportation, electricity, and many other things. But look how the people of this city respond."
Economic stabilization
Many workers and students interviewed during the
demonstration said that economic stabilization is becoming a
reality this year, providing working people some breathing
space and more self-confidence.
"There is less despair today and more revolutionary optimism," said Joel Acosta, 25, a machine operator at the Antillana de Acero steel mill on the outskirts of Havana. "I feel the noose of the economic catastrophe has been loosened from our neck. And a new generation of Cubans are taking responsibility for our revolution. When half a million people took to the streets last year to protest the murder of the police officer, we said, `This revolution is ours, it belongs to the working class, and we'll defend it in the streets if necessary.' "
"Everything we've done in the last two years in the factories has made a difference," said René Alfonso, 28, from the Nazareno food processing plant, explaining how the economic crisis has eased. "Now we're off the bottom of the pit."
Alfonso pointed to a series of measures the government has adopted to reverse the decline in industrial and agriculture production and reduce inflation. These steps include increased foreign investment in tourism and mining, legalization of the use of hard currency, higher prices for rum and cigarettes, entry fees for sporting and cultural events, and the opening of agricultural markets at unregulated prices. More than 3 million workers debated many of these measures at assemblies in workplaces across the country before they were adopted by the National Assembly, Cuba's parliament.
Cuba Lives festival
The Union of Young Communists, which called last year's
August 7 mobilization, was one of the sponsors of the "Cuba
Lives" festival and the march this year.
UJC first secretary Velázquez, addressing the crowd at the concluding rally, referred to the theme of the international youth festival. "Cuba lives: in the open doors of its schools, its hospitals, its retirement homes, and day care centers."
"Cuba lives: in spite of those who want to sweep all of this away, in spite of the criminal U.S. blockade," she added.
"Cuba lives: without counting on Helms and Burton, because the Cuban revolution was not approved in the U.S. congress."
Velázquez emphasized Cuba's proletarian internationalism and the importance of solidarity by youth from around the world.
Castro came back to this theme during his talk, addressing the international delegates. "I truly cannot find words to express our gratitude for the support you have given us, for this beautiful Cuba Lives youth festival," he said.
"It's worth highlighting the fact that among you are 262 representatives of the people of the United States, because this also speaks to the qualities and virtues of the people in the United States who oppose the unjust and criminal blockade."
Castro concluded his speech by offering Cuba as a site for another worldwide youth festival. If youth from around the world "want to continue with these meetings and no other country volunteers, Cuba is ready to be the site," he stated.
"What's needed isn't money. What's needed is dignity, generosity, and good will, like that demonstrated by those families who hosted you, by those neighborhoods that greeted you everywhere." Castro was referring to the fact that delegates at the festival were housed by Cuban families while they spent three days in one of seven provinces.
"Cuba lives and will live as long as there are men and women like yourselves in the world and a people as heroic as ours, capable of defending our right to live," the Cuban president concluded.
Further coverage on the Cuba Lives festival, which concluded August 7, will appear in next week's issue.