- by Vinnie Molina
- The Guardian
- Issue #2066
The Australia-Cuba Friendship Society (ACFS) welcomed young Cubans, Marianniz Diaz and Ivan Barreto to Perth on 11th - 14th August 2023. Their visit was the final leg of their Australia/NZ tour that took them to the main capital cities.
Marianniz Diaz is a research scientist at BioCubaFarma, a state organisation with over 20 thousand employees with the responsibility of developing medical supplies such as medicines and vaccines for the Cuban population.
Ivan Barreto is an official for the Asia-Pacific region of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, ICAP. Both visitors were invited and sponsored by the ACFS solidarity movement which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.
Marianniz and Ivan’s insights, shared at meetings with education and trade union organisations were well received. Their presentations delivered valuable first-hand information about the situation in Cuba.
Cuba has been under a criminal US blockade for more than 60 years. The entire world supports Cuba’s motion to end the blockade, year after year, at the United Nations General Assembly. In 2022, 185 countries voted in support of the motion with only the US and Israel voting against the motion to lift the inhumane and obsolete criminal blockade.
In Perth Marianniz and Ivan delivered an inspiring address to a public meeting at the Perth Trades Hall on Saturday 12th August. More that 50 people gathered to learn more about Cuba and actively participated in the discussion. Ivan Barreto invited those present to visit Cuba to fully appreciate the effects of the US blockade on every single Cuban family. Most young people in Cuba have been born under the blockade between the crises of the 90s and the COVID pandemic. They find it difficult to understand why the US doesn’t let Cuba live.
The Southern Cross brigade to Cuba which spends 3 weeks in Cuba over December and January each year is a great opportunity to experience Cuba with a difference. This year again people travelling to Cuba on the brigade will spend part of the time with a troupe of artists as they deliver cultural activity and education in the provinces.
This year’s brigade celebrates the 40 years since the first Southern Cross Brigade in solidarity with the people of Cuba; making it a very good reason to join this year. The brigade will also visit the Isle of Youth where Fidel Castro spent months in prison after the 1953 attacks on the Moncada Barracks.
The local branch of the Communist Party of Australia held a formal meeting to meet with the two young members of the Cuban Young Communist League and then joined ACFS members for a farewell BBQ.
The commitment of these young comrades for a better future, in peace and with mutually beneficial diplomatic relations between the people of the United States and Cuba is a guarantee that the Cuban revolution has a revolutionary continuity.
The CPA pledges to continue solidarity work with socialist Cuba until the US blockade is lifted. It also commits to promote and participate in the new international campaign to “Let Cuba Live” which aims to collect one million signatures demanding the removal of Cuba from the US list of countries sponsors of terrorism.
Cuba is not alone!
We encourage our party members and readers to join the campaign and add their names at www.letcubalive.info
