(taken from facebook of Oriol Marrero, counselor Embacuba Grecia )
The painter and friend of Cuba Takis Varelás is the author of the logo of the Greek initiative that has promoted the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Brigade of Cuban doctors and paramedics "Henry Reeve". He found it so momentous, important and urgent that he admits to having created it in just one day.
The tireless fighter and friend of Cuba Velissarios Kossivakis has starred in this noble claim from Greece, which he interprets, already with the feelings and accompaniment of hundreds of thousands of people around the world, the just recognition of the thousands of Cuban doctors and paramedical personnel who they have faced a multitude of serious and urgent health challenges in countless parts of the planet.
In Greece alone, some 22,000 people are members of this initiative, and some 600 personalities from the country make up its leadership, including the prominent and important world-renowned composer Mikys Theodorakis. More than 231 thousand signatures have requested the award of the Nobel Prize to the "Henry Reeve" Brigade, an initiative that in Greece is coordinated by Velissarios Kossivakis, and of which the painter Takis Varelás is vice president.
On August 12 in Athens, on the occasion and in honor of the 95th anniversary of the birth of the Historical Leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro Ruz, which is commemorated on August 13, the painter Takis Varelás, along with Velissarios Kossivakis, have had the beautiful and solidarity gesture of delivering a collection of original paintings by Takis Varelás –12 works in total–, in which the love of its author for the people of Cuba, for its Revolution is reflected, and in particular the work is highlighted Humanist of the "Henry Reeve" Medical Brigade in the world, creator of an exceptional solidarity paradigm. The emotional words of the painter Takis Varelás were charged with deep gratitude to the Cuban doctors, “to whom this collection is dedicated, in their battle for life. This collection –said Takis–, evokes the humanism of Cuban doctors ”.
He added that "the Cuban Revolution has deep roots", and that is why he also "tried to evoke in his works the defense of these roots, as it was during the fulfillment of the patriotic and revolutionary duty in the victorious combats of Playa Girón, a historical stage where the immortal slogan of Homeland or Death crystallized in the men of Girón ”.
The Greek artist and friend of Cuba Takis Varelás, who has titled his collection with the unmistakable and supportive name of, "CUBA IS NOT ALONE", explained that "he was very interested in achieving the fluidity of the work, but without losing the identification of the faces, without distorting the content ", and that" the symbolism and presence of the Cuban flag recreates the bond of people with the movement that takes place in their strokes, which are the reflection of the events that made them protagonists ", since "The Cuban people symbolize and embody the ideal of struggle of all the peoples of the world."
For Takis Varelás the phrase "CUBA IS NOT ALONE" are not simple words, it is about "a truth and it is action", because as he said, "all the income obtained from the sale of this art collection will be donated to Cuba ”And stated that“ what has happened with the sample is unexpected ”.
The organizers and the author of the works will soon donate and send to Cuba dozens of copies of the collection so that it may be known to numerous cultural, social and educational institutions, as a sign that the people of Cuba have the admiration and support solidarity with many friends in Greece, and particularly so that Cuban doctors can appreciate the tribute that the Greek people pay them, through the work of Takis Varelás.
The Ambassador of Cuba in Athens, Zelmys Domínguez Cortina, thanked the gesture of profound solidarity towards the people of Cuba, and particularly the heartfelt tribute they pay to the 95th anniversary of the birth of the Historical Leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro. Consul José Oriol Marrero Martinez, for his part, reiterating his gratitude, told Greek friends that in these times it is particularly symbolic and necessary to remember that not a few intellectuals, artists and painters in the world were inspired by the struggles of Greece for their independence and sovereignty in the first third of the 19th century, as Eugenio Delacroix did in his painting "Greece before the ruins of Missolongui" (1826), and that today, 200 years later, in the first third of the 21st century, we witness the fact that Greek artists produce works inspired by the historical struggles of the Cuban people, and in examples as altruistic and supportive as that of their doctors and paramedics.
With the express permission of the painter and friend Takis Varelás I reproduce below his 12 works (12 first images, taken from the works) belonging to the collection "CUBA IS NOT ALONE", as well as images about different moments of deep and reciprocal solidarity and friendship between the peoples of Cuba and Greece. An image is reproduced of the unforgettable meeting of the friend Velissarios Kossivakis with the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, of whom the 95th anniversary of his birth is already celebrated today, by Greek time. It's August 13 now.
CONGRATULATIONS
FIDEL!
Also, among others, there are images of the moment when the heroic and historical Greek anti-fascist fighter Manolis Glezos - now deceased -, "the last guerrilla in Europe", paid posthumous homage to Fidel in Athens, before an image of the monolith that guards his remains in the Patrimonial Cemetery of Santa Ifigenia, where red, white and blue roses, the colors of the Cuban flag, were placed. As is known, Manolis Glezos (then 19 years old), together with Apostolos Santas (then 18 years old), carried out the audacious action of climbing the Acropolis of Athens occupied by the German fascists during World War II, in an almost a suicide bomber scrupulously prepared by them, on the night of May 30, 1941, as a result of which they lowered the Nazi flag that floated near the Parthenon, a fact that became a huge symbol of anti-fascist resistance, whose historical significance lasts to this day. Already the historical Greek anti-fascist fighter, the legend Manolis Glezos, was in poor health the night of the posthumous tribute to Fidel in Athens, and with more than 95 years, but nothing prevented him from attending the packed Alkionis cinema, sitting in the front row, to speak at the concert-tribute to Fidel, and at the end to put before the image of the monolith where the remains of Fidel rest, with the firm hands and face of the undefeated warrior, a flower that synthesized the lives of two heroes, and of Two towns.
From that lineage and heroic substance the best of the solidarity of the Greek people towards the people of Cuba was forged, today expressed in new facts, such as the collection of paintings by Takis Varelás "CUBA IS NOT ALONE", which will donate 100% to Cuba of the funds you collect from your sale; or as the worldwide claim promoted by Velissarios Kossivakis to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the "Henry Reeve" Brigade.
LOVE IS PAID WITH LOVE.
