Vol. 81/No. 31 August 21, 2017
Che brigade is opportunity for youth, workers to
‘see Cuba for yourselves’
Delegations from around the world will arrive in Cuba Oct. 1 for the two-week brigade. Initiated by the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), the brigade is a tribute to the legacy of Ernesto Che Guevara.
Guevara, originally from Argentina, was one of the outstanding revolutionary leaders of the 20th century.
The brigade takes place the same month as tens of thousands of young people will gather for the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi, Russia. The Oct. 14-22 festival is another opportunity for revolutionary-minded youth to learn more about the fight against Washington’s wars and imperialist exploitation worldwide. It is being organized under the banner: “For peace, solidarity and social justice, we struggle against imperialism. Honoring our past, we build our future!”
The brigade will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Guevara’s death in combat. He was killed in October 1967 by the CIA and troops of the Bolivian military dictatorship. Guevara had left Cuba in 1966 for Bolivia, where he led revolutionaries there who fought to overthrow the U.S.-backed regime.
As Fidel Castro explained to the Cuban people 10 days later, Washington and the Bolivian rulers feared putting Guevara on trial, because it would give a platform to one of the world’s most powerful spokespeople for the political and moral duty of working-class revolutionary struggle.
Brigadistas will start out in the Julio Antonio Mella International Camp near Havana, meeting with leaders of Cuban groups and spending time doing volunteer agricultural work.
Brigadistas will meet with members of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), the Cuban Workers Federation (CTC), visit provinces where Che fought during the 1956-58 revolutionary war and meet some of Che’s co-combatants from both Bolivia and the Congo.
Members of the Socialist Workers Party in Minneapolis are spreading the world about the brigade as they campaign door to door. Jacquie Henderson and David Rosenfeld, SWP candidate for mayor of Minneapolis, met with Joseph Sullivan, a young worker who found out about the brigade from SWP campaigners the previous weekend. He decided to join the brigade and sent in his application. “I want to see Cuba for myself and join in telling the truth about it when I come back,” he said.
To sign up, contact the Chicago Cuba Coalition at (312) 952-2618 or ICanGoToCuba@gmail.com.
Related articles:
Revolution in Cuba shows road forward in Americas
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