BY MICHEL PRAIRIE
MONTREAL - "Socialism can't be exported," said Aleida Guevara March. "But Cuba is a powerful example for all oppressed and exploited around the world. If Cuba succeeded, they can say to themselves, why not us? This is why U.S. imperialism remains so hostile to the Cuban revolution until this very day."

Guevara March is the daughter of Ernesto Che Guevara, who was a central leader of the Cuban revolution and one of the outstanding communist leaders of the 20th century. She kicked off a three-week tour of Canada with two very successful events in Montreal March 23.

In the evening, she spoke at a packed hall of some 200 at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM). Another 200 people who were unable to get in stood in the corridor and filled an adjoining cafeteria to full capacity, where they viewed her presentation live on a closed-circuit television.

The same morning, she addressed a well-attended press conference at the Cuban consulate. Some 60 journalists, Cuba solidarity activists, representatives from trade unions and other organizations, Cubans living in Canada, and other guests attended the event. The Cuban ambassador to Canada, Bienvenido Garcia, and the Cuban general consul in Montreal, Gabriel Tiel, were also at hand.

Aleida Guevara March, 36, is a doctor who works as a pediatrician-allergist at the national hospital for children William Soler in Havana. She has participated in two internationalist missions.

The first was in Nicaragua during the "contra" dirty war organized, financed, and led by Washington to overthrow the workers' and farmers' government established through the 1979 revolution in that country.

The second was in Angola in the late 1980s, as part of the Cuban effort to help repel the invading forces of the South African apartheid regime. The combined Angolan, Cuban, and Namibian forces eventually inflicted a crushing defeat on Pretoria's racist armed forces in the battle of Cuito Cuanavale in 1988 - exactly 10 years ago.

In both her talk and press conference, Guevara March spoke extensively about the major gains in health care and education made by the working people of revolutionary Cuba and the challenge they face under the impact of the more than 35-year-long embargo imposed on their country by the U.S. government.

"Cuba, before [the revolution of] 1959, was like Haiti and the Dominican Republic today," she explained. "It was a neocolony of the United States. All of the wealth extracted from the island - such as sugar and nickel - was sent to the U.S. to be processed and then sold back to us at very dear prices." This was completely changed when the revolution broke the domination and power of the big landowners and of imperialism on the island. The needs of working people began to be put first. "The capitalist system never solved anything in Cuba. Socialism did, even with the errors we made. That's why we are not going back to capitalism today."

"Today," said Guevara March, "there are teachers in all corners of the country. There are universities in each of the 14 provinces. The infant mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world, at 7.2 deaths for 1,000 live births."

In the press conference, she described the impact of the U.S. rulers' economic embargo on the Cuban people. "In order to buy powdered milk at affordable price and without pressure from the U.S., we have to go to the other side of the world. Because of that, we pay more for shipping and for all the middlemen we have to go through because Washington forbids any direct sale of U.S. or U.S.-patented products to Cuba. This is also true for pharmaceuticals. Trading directly and normally with the United States, Cuba could save up to $400 million a year."

"Was Che right?" asked a journalist. He was referring to the military campaign Che Guevara led in 1966-67 in Bolivia against the U.S.-backed military dictatorship that ruled that country, which aimed at forging a leadership capable of leading a continent-wide revolution. Che was captured in October 1967 by the Bolivian army and murdered in consultation with the CIA.

"There have been attempts at changes without arms in Latin America," said Guevara March. "They failed. There will be a major social explosion in Latin America. Look at Brazil; it is a very rich country, but only a minority can take advantage of it. Millions of children live in the streets. Many will come to the conclusion that it is better to die fighting than to live in these conditions."

At both events, people asked what will happen in Cuba when Fidel Castro dies. "Fidel represents the consolidation and the persistence of Cuba's historic revolutionary changes," she answered. "He is also a magnificent educator. But Cuba has got where it is today because there are other people willing to continue this struggle. I know some of them. For example, the Communist Party secretaries in the provinces of Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Santiago, and others are men and women of 35, 40, 45 years old. Some of them have been elected to the Central Committee and even to the Political Bureau."

Aleida Guevara March's presence in Montreal was widely covered by the local media, beginning with a front page interview with a color photo in La Presse, the main French- language daily in Quebec.

Guevara March's tour will take her to Montreal, Quebec City and Trois-Rivieres in Quebec; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Toronto and Ottawa in Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Vancouver, British Columbia. The Quebec leg of her tour is organized by the Quebec Network of Cuba Solidarity Groups in collaboration with various student, solidarity and political groups and individuals, as well as the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) from Cuba.

One of the goals of her tour is to promote the First Canada-Cuba Friendship and Solidarity Conference to be held August 14-21 in Havana under the auspices of ICAP. This conference is open to "interested representatives of fraternal friendship and solidarity organizations, personalities, and the Canadian public."

Michel Prairie was a member of the Aleida Guevara March Tour Committee in Montreal.  
 
 
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