Havana, May 2, 2024 - With the presence of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, the final sessions of the International Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba and against imperialism began today, with the participation of more than 1,100 delegates from 58 countries, representing 220 organisations.
The event is being held to mark International Workers' Day and is dedicated to the centenary of the physical disappearance of Vladimir Ilich Lenin, the legacy of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Cuban Workers' Central (CTC) and the 65th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution, among other important dates.
It began on 30 April with a visit by the delegates to the labour collectives, then they participated in the May Day main rally at the José Martí Anti-imperialist Tribune in Havana and today they are meeting at the Conventions Palace to generate initiatives in the fight against the criminal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba.
Welcoming them, the Secretary General of the CTC, Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, thanked the participants for their presence on such important dates in the Cuban capital. "The Cuban Revolution, together with its heroic people, will continue to defend peace, social justice, Latin American and Caribbean integration without rest and with equal firmness and determination, and under the conviction, as Fidel taught us, that a better world is possible," said the leader of the Cuban trade unions.
Later, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, explained the political dispute with the United States and said: "Cuba is determined and willing to build a respectful relationship with that government". He said that nothing justifies the hostility maintained for more than 60 years against the Cuban people and acknowledged that Cuba enjoys international solidarity and universal rejection of the blockade that every year generates more initiatives around the world. He then went on to detail the effects of the blockade on the Cuban people, the suffering it causes not only for Cubans but also for the Americans themselves and for third countries.
The day continued with work in commissions, which dealt with issues such as trade unionism and workers' struggles in the current context; unity in diversity for the just causes of the peoples; and the struggles of solidarity, social and popular organisations in defence of peace and the sovereignty of the peoples.
At the closure of the event, Lefika Chetty, representative of the movement of solidarity with Cuba in South Africa, FOCUS, presented the declaration of solidarity adopted at the VII African Continental Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba, held in January in the province of Mpumalanga.
(Cuban Embassy in South Africa)