Friends of Cuba in Ankara carried out a tour on bicycles through avenues and streets of the capital of Türkiye in solidarity with the Cuban people, with the aim of celebrating the 98th birthday of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, to demand the elimination of the genocidal economic, commercial and financial blockade of the US against Cuba and to demand the exclusion of Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.
Cuban friends attended the bike ride for Cuba, for Fidel and against the blockade, shouting during their march the slogans: CUBA YES, YANKEE NO, DOWN WITH THE BLOCKADE. Emphasis was placed on the demand for the lifting of the U.S. blockade and that Cuba should be immediately removed from Washington's list of “countries that support terrorism”.
Participants in the Bicycle Convoy for Cuba, for Fidel and against the blockade, organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Ankara and the Jose Marti Cuba Friendship Association, did so in response to the call made recently by the Jose Marti Cuba Friendship Association,
“You are invited to the bicycle convoy that we are organizing together with the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Ankara on the 98th anniversary of the birth of Commander Fidel Castro! For Fidel, for Cuba, against the blockade, take your bicycle, come and join our convoy! ”
Last August 13 marked the 98th anniversary of the birth of Fidel Castro Ruz, historic leader of the Cuban Revolution. This morning, Cuban friends gathered in Anıtpark in Ankara, both to celebrate the 98th anniversary of Fidel's birth and to raise their voices from Turkey against the blockade imposed by the United States, considered the longest genocide in the world. They took the opportunity to show their solidarity with Cuba with their bicycles, banners and slogans.
Aslıhan Çakaloğlu, member of the board of directors of the José Martí Cuba Friendship Association, made a speech at the end of the tour in which he said: “Today we gather here to celebrate the anniversary of Fidel Castro, who is a treasure not only for Cuba but also for all the peoples of the world, and we also unite to strengthen the struggle against the US blockade, which is almost as old as the Cuban Revolution”. Likewise, he affirmed that “the conditions of the blockade imposed by the US are worsening day by day, and that the US has deprived Cuba of many things it is entitled to by adding it to the so-called list of countries that support terrorism.
Çakaloğlu continued his intervention, asking:
How can Cuba be on the so-called list of countries that support terrorism? When Cuba opened its doors to the British cruise ship MS Braemar, which was stranded in the middle of the ocean during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Cuban people have come to the support of other countries in case of disasters. These are just a few examples that come to mind, for the Cuban Revolution has done much more than that. From the first moments of its triumph, the Cuban Revolution showed its solidarity with the peoples of the world and continues to do so. The blockade aims to economically strangle the Cuban people, and Cuba should be immediately removed from that supposed list of countries that support terrorism, Çakaloğlu concluded.
Alejandro Díaz Palacios, Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba in Ankara, who participated in the Bicycle Convoy for Fidel, expressed his gratitude to all the friends of Cuba who participated in this event for their solidarity, for their condemnation of the blockade and for the demand for the exclusion of Cuba from the list of countries that allegedly support terrorism.
At the end of the event, a cake was cut in remembrance of the 98th anniversary of Fidel's birth.
