Canada tour builds support for Cuban Revolution

BY MICHEL DUGRÉ

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Luis Morlote Rivas, first vice president of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC) and a member of the Cuban National Assembly, and Sandra Ramírez and Yamil Martínez, both directors of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), spoke to several hundred people on a tour of Canada at the beginning of June. The Cuban revolutionaries spoke in Toronto, Niagara Falls, Winnipeg and Vancouver.

“Since Dec. 17, 2014, [when U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro moved to establish diplomatic relations] the U.S. government has imposed fines on 11 institutions — seven U.S. and four foreign — of over $2.8 billion. There is an economic war against our country,” Ramírez told a public meeting of over 60 here June 10. The U.S. government continues to routinely sanction businesses maintaining even remote relations with Cuba.

Referring to Guantánamo, the U.S.-occupied Cuban territory where the U.S. runs a notorious prison for people Washington accuses of supporting terrorism, she said, “Guantánamo is more than a prison. It’s a province in Cuba. The best part of the harbor belongs to the U.S. Cuban fishermen dream of being able to fish there.” The Canadian Network on Cuba conference attended by the Cuban representatives June 3-4 in Toronto voted to demand Washington’s immediate withdrawal from Guantánamo and an end to the economic blockade.

Urging participants to organize actions across the continent in October to coincide with the annual United Nations vote on the continuing U.S. assault on the Cuban Revolution, Ramírez said, “I don’t know what Trump will do but I know what Cuba will continue to do — building socialism, defending our social conquests.”

“Cuba is showing how to build a new society, a better society,” said Martínez, from the Canada desk of ICAP, “where the workers are heard, where the interests of the working class are put at stake.

“Cuba must do what’s possible to be self-sufficient in food. We need to increase exports and decrease imports. We remember the Special Period when the Soviet Union collapsed and the challenges and difficult times our people faced,” he said. “But nothing shook the people’s political support for the government. As long as there is a socialist revolution in Cuba, these conquests will remain.”

Morlote Rivas was the featured speaker at a public meeting June 3 in Toronto, held during the 8th convention of the Canadian Network on Cuba.

One participant in the meeting expressed concern for the effects of the constant barrage of U.S. propaganda aimed at the Cuban people. “We don’t censor anything coming from the U.S.,” Morlote said. “The way forward is to deepen the revolution.”

Those interested in learning firsthand about the Cuban Revolution can sign up for the volunteer “In Che’s Footsteps” international brigade October 1-15. Contacting ICAP at alatina.csur@icap.cu, or call (778) 879-2759 in Vancouver or the Chicago Cuba Coalition at (312) 952-2618 in the U.S.

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