Vol. 73/No. 19      May 18, 2009

Palmeiro is the wife of Ramón Labañino, one of five Cuban revolutionaries unjustly incarcerated in the United States for more than 10 years because of their unwavering defense of the Cuban Revolution. The others are: Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, René González, and Antonio Guerrero.

Palmeiro missed the first day of the festival because the Canadian government delayed issuing her a visa, according to organizers of the event. She was scheduled to speak that day at the Opening Gala of Poetry and Music, also attended by 100 people.

The festival included poets from around the world, many who speak through their poetry to the worldwide fight for justice and equality. “Many didn’t know about the Cuban Five before being contacted for the event,” said Lisa Makarchuk, one of the organizers.

Prominent writers and poets from Cuba participated, including Nancy Morejón, president of the Cuban Writers Association; Pablo Armando Fernandez; and others.

Muneeza Hashmi spoke about her father, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a Pakistani poet who wrote in Urdu. She too was prevented from attending the first day of the festival because the Canadian government refused to issue her visa on time. She said Canadian authorities told her that they were concerned she might overstay the five-day visa. Hashmi said that she is too attached to Pakistan and her family to even consider staying over.

Henry Padrón, a Puerto Rican living in United States, read poetry about the fight for the independence of Puerto Rico, a U.S. colony. He noted that Puerto Ricans have no say in what affects them from day to day.

From the United States, Allison Hedge Coke, author of Dog Road Woman, read a poem from a Mapuche Indian of South America and another one from a Native from Alaska. Coke is Huron and Cherokee.

Marilyn Lerch, who now lives in New Brunswick, Canada, read a poem about the Palestinians’ fight for justice.

Gary Geddes, from Canada’s West Coast, gave a presentation on “Operation Trojan Horse: the Link Between Poetry and Politics.” He denounced the role of Canadian mining companies and of the Canadian army in Africa. In 2008 two of the largest gold mining companies in Canada with operations in Africa brought lawsuits aimed at preventing publication of Noir Canada, an exposé of the company’s plundering of Africa’s resources.

Other poets came from Turkey, India, Argentina, Colombia, and other countries.

“You try to shut the voices of the Cuban Five. You defend democracy in Afghanistan with war, occupation, and torture. We will resist any form of oppression, one poem at a time,” stated one of the poets.
 
 
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