Solidarity with Cuba from around the world

By María Josefina Arce

May Day traditionally brings together in Havana numerous friends of Cuba. They come to share with Cubans the celebration of International Workers' Day and to show their solidarity and support for the people, who have been subjected for more than sixty years to a genocidal blockade imposed by the United States.

On this occasion it was no different and more than a THOUSAND citizens from different nations are among us, among them young Americans who want to know the Cuban reality, in view of the constant media campaigns.

In welcoming this large group from the United States, Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel stressed that their visit and their activism in favor of the Caribbean nation once again demonstrates that solidarity, support, hope and trust also come from the United States.

The young people, along with the other visitors, had the opportunity to visit work centers and various communities in the capital, where they talked with residents and learned how much is being done to transform these spaces for the benefit of all.

And as has become customary, the International Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba took place in Havana, an event that had its first edition in November 1994 and which it was decided to move the date, given the large presence of peace-loving people from all over the world on May Day.

The event was unforgettable, with the active participation of the historic leader of the revolution, Fidel Castro, and the attendance of nearly 2,500 people from 108 countries, including 77 parliamentarians from Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Also present were outstanding personalities such as the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez and the Nigerian Wole Soyinka, and the Nobel Peace Prize, the Guatemalan Rigoberta Menchú and the Argentinean Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.

In his closing speech Fidel pointed out that there were present, if not all of them because there are many, noble, selfless, altruistic people who expressed the best of humanity. 

Now this new meeting also has a special significance, since it takes place in the midst of the intensification of the criminal and hostile policy of the United States and when it will be 200 years since the well-known Monroe Doctrine, of a marked colonialist and interfering character.

In the midst of this scenario, the support expressed at the meeting, which also included the participation of the Cuban president, who said that Cuba's challenges are great, but the alternative will never be to surrender.

Once again it has been ratified in Havana that Cuba is not alone in its struggle against the criminal economic, commercial and financial siege that hinders the socioeconomic development of the country. A reality highlighted by Díaz Canel, who at the closing of the meeting thanked all those present for standing by the Cuban people.

The meeting was an expression of the solidarity that accompanies Cuba, which the participants described as an example and guide to resist, create, overcome adversities and achieve a better world.