The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.35           October 7, 1996 
 
 
Toronto Conference: `Solidarity With Cuba'  

BY MARY ELLEN MANLEY

TORONTO - The first of several Canada-Cuba solidarity conferences will kick off here on Friday, September 27, at Metro Hall, with a special welcome to the nine Cuban delegates attending the three-day event. The conference provides an opportunity to have a discussion with Cuban leaders about the struggle of the Cuban people to defend their sovereignty and social system against the efforts by Washington, Ottawa, and other imperialist powers to undermine the socialist revolution.

The slogans of the conference are a mixture of defending Cuba's sovereignty and Canadian nationalism. "Solidarity with Cuba! End the Blockade! Oppose Helms-Burton! Defend Cuba's Right to Self-Determination! Defend Canadian Sovereignty!" are the slogans advanced by the main organizers: the Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association and the Canada-Cuba Friendshipment Committee.

A conference steering committee is organizing the event in collaboration with the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP). The leaflet advertising the conference states that "Canadians representing political, religious, business, labor, social, student, and women's groups," will "launch a united campaign for aid to Cuba, and in support of Cuba's and Canada's Sovereignty."

Visiting guests will include Marta Cabrísas Alfonso, member of Cuba's National Assembly and of the National Secretariat of the Central Organization of Cuban Workers; and Rolando González Tellez, first vice president of the Institute of Friendship Amongst the Peoples (ICAP). Speakers also include Oscar Treto Cárdenas, member of the National Bureau of the Union of Young Communists (UJC) of Cuba; and Rita Maria Pereira, of the National Executive of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC). Nancy Morejón Hernández, a well-known Cuban writer and Afro-Cuban specialist, will also participate in the conference.

This Ontario-wide conference in Toronto will be followed by similar solidarity conferences in Winnipeg and Halifax. At the opening plenary session in Toronto, the Cuban delegation will present an update on the situation in Cuba. Cuban leaders will review the effects of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 (Helms-Burton law) on the country's economy thus far. The recently passed U.S. legislation escalated Washington's economic war on the Cuban people by penalizing companies outside the United States that trade with Cuba.

Many topics related to Cuba will be discussed throughout the weekend. Workshops are planned on culture, health, education, and the media in Cuba, as well as trade and investment laws.

The workshop "Women in Cuba," chaired by a representative from the National Action Committee on the Status of Women in Canada, will feature Pereira from the FMC. At the workshop "Youth in Cuba," participants will hear from a leader of the UJC, who will talk about the World Festival of Students and Youth that will take place in Cuba July 28-August 5, 1997.

Billy Modise, High Commissioner for South Africa, is scheduled to speak on Cuba's role in helping to defeat the apartheid system in South Africa through its participation in the military struggle in Angola.

Several members of the recently returned Amigos de Cuba volunteer work brigade will present a workshop on work brigades, describing their experiences and laying out plans for next year's trip.

A `'Spirits of Havana" concert is planned for the evening of September 28, featuring well-known jazz artist Jane Bunnett and 13 Cuban musicians.  
 
 
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