MONTREAL — Some 50 people picketed in front of the busy Berri-UQAM subway station here Oct. 1 in an action in defense of Cuba called by the Quebec-Cuba Solidarity Roundtable. They called for the Canadian government to oppose the U.S. blockade on Cuba, handing out leaflets urging people to sign an online petition to be presented to Parliament in Ottawa.
The pickets faced 10 opponents of the Cuban Revolution, who waved a large U.S. flag and carried a sign saying, “No more communism.” They tried, unsuccessfully, to disrupt the action using a bullhorn. When the police arrived, the disrupters backed off, moving to the other side of the street.
Supporters of the Cuban Revolution, including Joe Young, Communist League candidate in the Oct. 5 Quebec elections in the St. Laurent riding, loudly chanted “Cuba sí, bloqueo no!” Several participants held up a sign in French that read, “Cuba is not a threat, the blockade is.” When the protest ended, Reinier Valdés Rodríguez, a popular Cuban singer and actor who was visiting Montreal, thanked all the pickets for their solidarity with Cuba.