Sochi, Russia.– Just a few days before a report on the impact of the U.S. blockade of Cuba is set to be presented before the UN General Assembly, participants to a Cuba solidarity forum condemned the political, economic and human damages caused by this hostile policy, October 16, in Sochi, where the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students is currently taking place.
Youth from all over the world also attended the forum, held in the Main Media Center where many of the Festival activities are taking place, to demand the return to Cuba of territory illegally occupied by the Guantánamo Naval Base. One of those to speak up in this regard was Jacobo Perasso, representing the socialist youth and U.S. Socialist Workers Party, who demanded an end to subversive programs by his country’s government and highlighted Cuba’s solidarity and internationalist efforts.
Meanwhile Executive Secretary of the Continental Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Students (Oclae), Rafael Bogonin, spoke about the island’s important victories, including securing the return of the Cuban Five; and noting that “despite threats, the (Cuban) people continue to resist.”
At a time when Latin American countries are facing a resurgence of hegemonic capitalism, the student leader noted that Cuba stands out as a beacon and example for the world.
In this regard, President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), Fernando González Llort, described the blockade is an economic war against Cuba which affects all sectors of its economy and society, and allows the United States to harass countries which decide to maintain trade relations with the island.
Forum panelist González Llort spoke about the policy’s extraterritorial impact as well as the increased cost of acquiring products, as Cuba is forced to make purchases in distant markets.
In a moving speech, Che’s daughter Aleida Guevara, praised the achievements of the Cuban Revolution and talked about the impact of the blockade on the island’s health care system, describing the pain one feels when they are unable to obtain a certain medicine to treat a patient. “Of 10 new medicines, eight have U.S. patents. In order to acquire them, Cuba must go through five or six intermediaries. This is the unquantifiable pain caused by the blockade,” she stated.
Various Cuban youth also took the opportunity to congratulate the Venezuelan people and government on their electoral victory this past October 15, and express the island’s solidarity with the sister nation and other peoples around the world.
The solidarity forum concluded with a performance from musical duo Buena Fe, Eduardo Sosa, Annie Garcés and repentistas Aramís Padilla and Héctor González, before which Suselys Morfa González, first secretary of the Young Communist League, expressed the love and commitment of those gathered for the Cuban people and to remembering history. “We are the heirs of Martí, anti-imperialists by nature,” she stated.
