Vol. 81/No. 39      October 23, 2017

 

‘Cuban Revolution will never yield sovereignty, principles’

Díaz-Canel: ‘Che says you can’t trust imperialism’

 
SANTA CLARA, Cuba — “The example of Che grows and multiplies in our people, who will never betray and will always defend our revolution,” Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, member of the Political Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party and first vice president of the Council of State and Ministers, told 60,000 people gathered here Oct. 8 to mark the 50th anniversary of the fall of Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara in combat in Bolivia.

“Faithful to the legacy of Che and Fidel, we reaffirm that Cuba will grant no concessions to its sovereignty and independence and will not negotiate its principles,” he said. “The changes necessary in Cuba are decided by the Cuban people themselves!”

A sizable contingent of international guests joined Cuban workers, farmers and youth, including more than 200 participants in the “In the Footsteps of Che” International Brigade.

Díaz-Canel said the slander by Washington that Cuba used “sonic” attacks to damage the health of U.S. Embassy personnel in Havana — and Washington’s unprovoked decision to tell the Cuban government to cut its embassy staff in the U.S. by 15 — were aimed at discrediting Cuba and cutting travel there. He quoted Che Guevara, saying, “We can’t trust imperialism one bit, not one iota!”

“When it was clear Hurricane Irma would slam Yaguajay, we had already created a group of students ready to help,” Luis Ernesto Cabellos, president of the Federation of University Students at Las Villas Central University, told the brigadistas Oct. 7. “We went door to door explaining the need to evacuate. We witnessed the solidarity among the Cuban people — in some neighborhoods people with sturdier houses invited others to stay with them. It is a revolutionary principle that no one is abandoned. After the storm we helped clean houses and neighborhoods, cleared trees and helped bring belongings home.”

Brigadistas spent a morning weeding in an “organoponic” public garden in Sancti Spiritus, helping workers there prepare for planting, which was delayed by the hurricane. “We learned to produce our own food and other necessities we had previously imported” when Cubans had to respond to the sudden end of aid and favorable trade as the Soviet Union collapsed, Raúl Cardosa Cabrera, Sancti Spiritus delegate of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples, told us. The vegetable garden was set up as part of that response. “The garden’s produce goes to the local hospital, schools and child care centers, and some is sold to local residents.”
 
 
Related articles:
Revolution in Cuba shows road forward for workers
US gov’t uses pretext of ‘mystery illness’ to attack Cuba
‘Cuba’s revolution acts with the will of the entire people’
 
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home