Nicosia, Cyprus, May 9. – The Ambassador of Cuba to the Republic of Cyprus, Rubén Pino Martínez, paid tribute this Saturday to the victims of fascism, Nazism, and militarism, during the event organized by the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) at the World War II Memorial in this capital.
As every May 9, AKEL commemorates the anniversary of that great victory as a tribute to the tens of millions of people who were victims of fascism; this time, accompanied by the various organizations and political forces that make up the Cypriot left-wing popular movement, joined by diplomatic representatives from the State of Palestine, Russia, China, and Cuba.
The main speeches of the event were delivered by the Secretary General of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, who paid tribute to the “tens of millions of people who fell defending democracy, defending the principles that humanity has forged over the centuries of progress, both on the battlefields and in the guerrillas created in occupied countries, in the detention centers and prisons imposed by fascism, victims of the hunger and hardships caused by fascism in countries occupied by Nazism and fascism.”
“In honoring all these victims,” Stefanos Stefanou commented, “we also honor all the Cypriots — Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenians, and Maronites — who participated in this universal effort to confront the fascist beast. As statistics indicate, Cyprus, in proportion to its population, had the highest participation in the anti-fascist struggle, and in fact, many Cypriots took part in the war and in the effort to fight fascism in various countries in Europe, mainly in Italy and Greece, but also in the Middle East and Africa.”
“We feel very proud of this contribution, of Cyprus’s participation in the anti-fascist struggle. We feel doubly proud of the role played by our party, AKEL, in massively mobilizing Cypriots in this struggle. It is known that AKEL, newly founded in 1941, called for mass mobilization in the anti-fascist struggle,” he specified.
The Secretary General of AKEL recalled that this anniversary "is an opportunity to remember what gave birth to fascism, because nowadays fascism, neo-Nazism, and the far right are raising their heads again, relying essentially on the same social and political conditions that prevailed in interwar Germany for the Nazis to appear on the political stage, using both the tools of democracy and the tolerance of a large part of big capital."
Embassy of Cuba in Cyprus.