NEW YORK—About 170 people attended an event held here July 29 under the theme “Standing with Internationalist Cuba, in Solidarity with Venezuela and Bolivia.” It celebrated the 53rd anniversary of the opening of the Cuban revolutionary struggle on July 26, 1953, when a group of revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro attacked the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship’s Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba.

Ileana Núñez, Cuba’s deputy representative to the United Nations, outlined gains made by workers and farmers since the 1959 triumph of the revolution in health, education, social development, and internationalist solidarity. Washington has never let up its aggression against Cuba because “they fear our example,” she said. The U.S. government has earmarked $80 million “to plan for a supposed political transition” in Cuba, she noted, but “the only kind of transition in Cuba will be toward strengthening socialism and preserving our gains.” Venezuelan vice consul Jesús Arias pointed to the contributions of Cuban volunteer doctors and teachers in his country and said Venezuela would continue to stand up to U.S. destabilization efforts. Leonard Weinglass, a member of the legal team representing five Cuban revolutionaries framed and locked up in U.S. jails, spoke about that case. Also speaking were Larry Hamm, chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress, which two days earlier hosted a public meeting for Núñez in a Black community in Newark, New Jersey; Rev. Lucius Walker of IFCO/Pastors for Peace; and Bonnie Massey of the Venceremos Brigade. Plans were also announced to hold a September 12 march and rally here to demand the release of the Cuban Five as part of an international campaign.

—MARTÍN KOPPEL