Continental Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba Ends in Caracas

Delegates to the encounter advocate the end of the economic and political war by the United States against Cuba, and the development of an international campaign in favor of the Five Cuban Heroes.
By: Osviel Castro Medel

CARACAS, Venezuela.— The Seventh Continental Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba, which took place from July 24 to July 27 in Caracas, Venezuela, concluded with a homage to the Bolivarian leader Hugo Chávez Frías at the Cuartel de la Montaña (Mountain Barracks), where his mortal remains lie.

About 500 delegates from more than 30 countries took part in the four-day encounter, full of intense activity. The delegates advocated the end of the economic and political war by the United States against Cuba, and the development of an international campaign in favor of the Five Cuban Heroes.

Cultural activities, master lectures, workshops to debate, and protocol ceremonies were carried out in the encounter to support the Cuban Revolution. The Eternal Commander of the Bolivarian Revolution Hugo Chavez, who would have turned 59 years old on July 28, was frequently mentioned during the encounter.

Among the lecturers were Aleida Guevara; Vice-president of the Cuban National Assembly of People’s Power Ana María Mari Machado; journalist Stella Calloni, from Argentina; and the deputy and member of the Venezuelan Communist Party Yul Yabour.

Other personalities were also present such as the Executive Vice-President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Jorge Arreaza, who officially opened the encounter; the member of the Cuban Communist Party Politburo Mercedes López Acea; Venezuelan professor Luis Britto García; the president of the Cuban Institute Friendship with the Peoples, Kenia Serrano; the president of the National Association of Cuban Artists and Writers (UNEAC), Miguel Barnet; the son of one of the Barbados’s martyrs Camilo Rojo; Irma Sehwerert, mother of René González, and Ailí Labañino, the daughter of Ramón Labañino, one of the anti-terrorist fighters, unjustly held in US penitentiaries.

The delegates analyzed, in different panels, the importance of the insurrection carried out on July 26th, 1953, the inspiring example of the Five Cuban Heroes, and the legacy of Latin-American integration left by Hugo Chávez. This last panel counted on the participation of the former Cuban Ambassador to Venezuela, Germán Sánchez.

The Meeting also included a discussion panel entitled En Defensa de la Humanidad, dedicated to the ten years of the creation of the Net for the Defense of Human Rights, the cultural gala Al son de los pueblos libres, and a sports festival in the community of Coche, with the participation of some great Cuban sporting figures like Driulis González, Eduardo Paret, Yumileidis Cumbá, Zuleidys Ortiz, Tomás Herrera, Yoel García, Jorge Jay Masó and Enrique Cepeda.

The participants in the event also made a vigil at the Cuartel dela Montaña to honor Hugo Chávez.

Translated by ESTI for JuventudRebelde

Tags: aleida guevara, cubanfive, injustice, solidarity