Vol. 81/No. 35      September 25, 2017

 

Brigade to see Cuban response to hurricane firsthand

 
The solidarity that workers and youth participating in the Oct. 1-15 “In the Footsteps of Che” International Brigade bring to Cuba will be especially welcome after Hurricane Irma. Brigadistas will learn firsthand how the revolutionary Cuban government mobilized to meet the hurricane’s threat, in sharp contrast to the capitalist rulers in the U.S., and to the rulers in the U.S., the U.K., France and the Netherlands towards their colonies in the Caribbean. No one is left on their own in Cuba.

They’ll also learn how Cuban revolutionaries organized to deepen solidarity with toilers who faced destruction from Hurricane Irma elsewhere in the Caribbean, from Barbuda to Haiti. They’ll explain how the U.S. rulers told working people “you’re on your own.” Under capitalism, profits always come first.

The Minnesota Cuba Committee is organizing a public meeting where participants will report back on the situation in Cuba. Similar meetings are being organized in other cities.

A fundraiser will be held Sept. 30 in San Pedro to support southern California participation in the brigade and in the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi, Russia, Oct. 14-22.

Some 20,000 delegates from 120 countries are expected to attend the Sochi gathering, which is sponsored by the World Federation of Democratic Youth. The over 100 delegates going from the U.S. have received official letters of invitation and are raising funds for airfare.

The festival’s International Organizing Committee, led by organizations that are members of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, is in Sochi planning the festival’s political program, aimed at building anti-imperialist activities worldwide.

Over 250 young revolutionaries from Cuba will be going to the festival. In addition to 200 delegates elected among students and young workers across the island, the Union of Young Communists announced that outstanding leaders in history, science, medicine and sports will be part of the Cuban delegation there. They include Fernando González Llort, president of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples, the sponsor of the Che brigade. González was one of five Cuban revolutionaries framed up by the U.S. government and imprisoned in the U.S. for some 15 years for their actions in defense of the revolution.

Dr. Jorge González Pérez, who headed the Cuban team that found the remains of Ernesto Che Guevara in Bolivia, will join the delegation. So will Elián González. When he was 5 years old, Elián was picked up off the coast of Florida after his mother drowned trying to reach the United States. In violation of international conventions and Cuba’s sovereignty, Washington refused for seven months to return Elián to his father in Cuba. Brigadier Gen. Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, the only Latin American to go on a mission to space, is also part of the delegation.

For more information on the brigade and report-back meetings, contact the Chicago Cuba Coalition at (312) 952-2618 or ICanGoToCuba@gmail.com.  
 
 
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