Vol. 74/No. 17      May 3, 2010

This was just one of the ways in which the difference between living in a capitalist society and one where the workers and farmers have taken political power struck those who heard Fuentes and medical student Aníbal Ramos on the final leg of their national tour sponsored by the Cuban Student Academic Exchange.

Keisha Brunston asked about the role of police in Cuba. Brunston has fought to expose the killing of her nephew Deandre, an unarmed Black youth accused of domestic violence, who was shot in 2003 by Los Angeles cops.

“There is a big difference between the police in Cuba and other countries,” Ramos replied. “In Cuba they are there to protect the revolution, not to repress the people. They have to face Cuban law if they harm their own people.”

Ramos also noted the difference between prisons in Cuba and the United States. He described how the Cuban Five, Cuban revolutionaries imprisoned on frame-up charges by the U.S. government since 1998, had been put in solitary confinement for 17 months. Cubans “don’t understand how this kind of prison can exist,” Ramos said.

Asked what she thought about the situation for workers and farmers in the United States, Fuentes described their visits with family farmers and immigrant workers in the United States during their tour.

“Life is very difficult for farmers in the United States,” Fuentes said. “If they do not have a good harvest they can lose their land and home. They have a lot of machinery, which is very good, but it seems they have to work 16-18 hours a day to pay off their debts and they just get to keep a small percentage of the money they make.” She had noted earlier that in Cuba, however, anyone who wants to work the land cannot lose that land.

Roberto, a garment worker whose family is from Mexico, said he was struck by the difference between the situation for farmers in the United States and Mexico as compared to Cuba.

The Latin American Society, Latin American Studies Department, Pan African Studies Department, Chicanos/Latinos for Community Medicine, MECha, Associación de Estudiantes de Español, and Unión Salvadoreña de Estudiantes Universitarias sponsored the meeting.

The next day the Cuban youth spoke at the University of California in Riverside to 80 people, hosted by the Latin American Studies Program, Department of Ethnic Studies, Chicano Student Programs, and Latin American Perspectives.

Speaking in the discussion, student Karen Aguilar said, “As university students we have little information and fewer facts about Cuba. As a result, what Gloria Estefan has to say seems to matter more.” Estefan is a Cuban American singer based in Miami and a well-known opponent of the Cuban Revolution.

Fuentes pointed out that a recent Miami demonstration in support of the Ladies in White, a small group in Cuba of opponents of the revolution, received prominent coverage in the U.S. media. “A few weeks later, a march of more than 100,000 in Washington, D.C., for rights for immigrants wasn’t nearly as well covered,” she said.

Maria Anna Gonzales, who helped organize the meeting, urged participants to join the fight to free the Cuban Five.

Dr. Fred Dominguez, assistant professor at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, organized a tour for the two Cubans at the South Central Family Health Center. Chief Medical Officer Felix Aguilar conducted the tour. Ramos gave a brief impromptu presentation on the importance of proper diet to a class that was learning about controlling diabetes.

Janice Yen and two other members of Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress conducted a tour for the Cuban youth through the Japanese American National Museum. They explained that their organization fought for 10 years to win a government apology and reparations in 1990 for the imprisonment of 120,000 Japanese from the West Coast in internment camps during World War II.

Fuentes asked how many people were alive when the reparations were won. Yen said that about 88,000 were still alive at the time. In 2001 representatives of their organization went to Cuba and visited with Japanese-Cubans who had also been put in camps there during World War II.

On the last night of their visit 75 people joined the students at a potluck dinner organized by Latin American Society students from Cal State Los Angeles. It was held at the home of Carlos Ugalde, retired professor from Glendale Community College.
 
 
Related articles:
‘Social revolution necessary,’ Cuban youth tell N.Y. students
Lessons for fighters today from Lenin’s political battle to defend workers power  
 
 
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