"Cuba has taught us what international solidarity means," and today, when "a century of anti-colonial struggle is at risk," that is why "we will continue to call on the world to stand with Cuba.""We will never leave Cuba alone, because we know that fighting for Cuba is fighting for the right to self-determination of the peoples of the world."
This was expressed this Saturday by David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International, during the welcoming ceremony for the more than 600 representatives from some 33 countries who make up the Our America to Cuba Convoy.
Held at the headquarters of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP, in Spanish), the event was attended by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and members of the Political Bureau: Esteban Lazo Hernández, President of the National Assembly of People's Power and of the Council of State; Manuel Marrero Cruz, Prime Minister; and Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
Regarding the numerous expressions of support taking place on the island these days, Adler asserted that the members of the Convoy represent millions of people. First and foremost, it is for a humanitarian cause, since no other nation in the world suffers the blockade that attempts to suffocate Cuba, he affirmed. "It is our hearts that unite us," he said.
Secondly, "we are here to defend an idea, an example, a real project that Cuba and the achievements of its Revolution represent." And thirdly, "to fight against the genocidal policies of the United States government."
Then, upon returning to their countries, they will have, he emphasized, an even greater task: "to refute the media manipulation and defend the truth” about Cuba, disseminated by those for whom “friendship, love, and international solidarity are crimes."
For his part, Manolo de los Santos, executive director of The People's Forum, stated that the Caribbean nation "has given us the greatest lesson, not only in resilience and resistance, but also in what it means to create a true alternative to the horrors of capitalism and imperialism. Thank you, Cuba, for teaching us to fight, to trust in our own efforts to change the world."
He added that "this effort represents the love, solidarity, and activism of millions of people who refuse to turn their backs on the Cuban people."
De los Santos condemned the blockade imposed on the Caribbean island for more than six decades and maintained that, "depriving the people of their right to life, to peace, to fuel, to have normal relations with the rest of the world, is nothing less than an act of genocide; therefore, it is our duty to go to Cuba to distribute aid."
They are also fighting because "the world needs a Cuba of solidarity, the one that sends its best sons and daughters to the most remote corners of the planet, as doctors and teachers," he stated.
Likewise, she asserted that this would not be the last expression of solidarity, because "we listened to and met a people who will not surrender, who are willing to give their lives for humanity and in their own defense."
Bianca Borges, president of the National Union of Students of Brazil, stated that at this gathering, "the banners of solidarity, anti-imperialism, hope, and the sovereignty of resistance against those who seek to dominate us were raised even higher."
He also stated that "the hope for a just, integrated, and non-discriminatory Latin America is reborn, a Latin America that does not want to be a colony of any empire, but rather a Latin American power of its own making (…) for this change to be possible, solidarity with Cuba, which is under imperial aggression, and the fight against the blockade are fundamental."
Meanwhile, Hero of the Republic Fernando González Llort, president of ICAP, emphasized that "under no circumstances will we renounce the defense of the just causes of the people nor our aspirations to continue fostering solidarity, internationalism, and collaboration, which have been pillars of our foreign policy."
To the members of the Convoy, he said that they are "humanity made manifest in solidarity, a humanity that does not accept the blockade as its destiny, that organizes, mobilizes, travels, and embraces. You represent the certainty that no imperial siege can ever imprison the dignity of our peoples, because the homeland we defend, the homeland of Martí, Fidel, of those who have fallen and of those who resist, is not a strip of land under siege, it is a piece of humanity that refuses to surrender."
