Vol. 81/No. 47 December 18, 2017
European Cuba solidarity conference held in Bulgaria
“This has effectively become a Europe-wide conference — and beyond,” Tamara Takova, the Friendship Association’s president, said in welcoming participants.
Alexandar Paunov, representing the Bulgarian parliamentary Cuba group; Pedro Pablo San Jorge, Cuban ambassador to Bulgaria; Elio Gámez, ICAP’s first vice president; and Aleida Guevara March, daughter of historic Cuban leader Ernesto Che Guevara also spoke at the opening session. The 50th anniversary of Guevara’s death in combat has been marked in countries across Europe and worldwide.
Aleida Guevara also spoke at a press conference and met with members of the Bulgarian parliament during her visit.
In addition to conference participants, delegations from trade unions, cultural and academic organizations and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church came to the opening.
The largest foreign delegation was from Germany, with representatives of three solidarity groups — the Germany-Cuba Friendship Association; Cuba Sí, which is linked to the Left Party; and the mediCuba NGO — coming from cities across the country, east and west.
A cultural group of 10 young people, called the Grenada Association — taking their name from a Russian poem — came from Moscow. Tatiana Vladimirskaya, a professor from whom they learn Spanish and the group’s facilitator, also attended.
Smaller groups and individual delegates came from Albania, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the U.K.
Participating from Poland, Beata Karon, a leader of the Communist Party there, is currently out on appeal against a thought-control conviction and prison term for propagating “totalitarian ideas.”
The Communist League in the United Kingdom participated for the first time. The CL delegation of two brought with us books in English, French and Spanish by leaders of the Cuban Revolution and on communist politics, the Militant and other materials. Conference participants bought 32 books, 15 copies of the Militant and two subscriptions. A number gave us their contact information in order to stay in touch.
In addition to exchanges on their varied experiences in getting out the truth about the Cuban Revolution and defending it from economic and political attacks from Washington and imperialist regimes across Europe, participants discussed and debated their different political viewpoints in conference plenary sessions and workshops.
The conference adopted a final declaration that condemned Washington’s decadeslong economic war against Cuba and demanded the immediate return of Guantánamo to the Cuban people.
Related articles:
1961 literacy drive in Cuba ‘transformed working people’
Hart: ‘We joined revolutionary movement led by Fidel Castro’
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