(Taken from Facebook Oriol Marrero, counselor of the Embassy of Cuba in Greece)
XIV part. "With Cuba in the heart" in a working-class neighborhood of Atenas: Labor Center of the Nueva Smirny neighborhood. September 15, 2020.
“With Cuba in the heart”, a photographic exhibition inaugurated on September 15, 2020 in the working-class neighborhood of Nueva Smirny, Athens - it was the 15th exhibition - was dedicated to the almost 30 Cuban medical and paramedical brigades that at that time they were fighting - they fight and they will continue to fight - the heroic, risky and solidary battle against the pandemic that has hit the world since the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020. And also the millions of people who do so in other latitudes. And the 60th anniversary of the constitution of the Committee for the Defense of the Cuban Revolution was also remembered on that date.
Like the previous fourteen exhibitions, this one took place thanks to the request of its hosts, the Nueva Smirny Labor Center, and was preceded by a profitable and profound exchange on Cuba in which dozens of Athenians actively participated.
Given the measures adopted by the health situation, it would be the first photographic expo "With Cuba in the heart" in which access to the rooms where it was exhibited had to be done in small groups of people, or individually, which did not prevent a large public attend the opening, or visit the exhibition in subsequent days, as it remained on display for more than three weeks.
By that date, requests to exhibit the sample in the city of Salonica, second in the country after Athens, in addition to Canea, in Crete, had to be postponed until possibilities permit; from the Olympic Stadium of Athens --where the inauguration of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games took place--, or the town of Litojoro, at the foot of Mount Olympus, the site where the first guide-climber of Mount Olympus, Cristian Kakalos, was born (1882-1976). For the Cuban National Hero José Martí, Olympus was a recurring theme.
At the opening of the exhibition, Dimitris Zervas, on behalf of the Labor Center, who delivered heartfelt words of welcome, gratitude and recognition to the historical struggles of the heroic people of Cuba; the ambassador of Cuba in Greece Zelmys María Domínguez Cortina, who greeted the event, thanked the Greek friends for their solidarity with Cuba, and reaffirmed the importance of showing the reality of sovereign Cuba that stands beautiful, victorious and humanistic despite the unjust economic, commercial and financial blockade to which it is subjected. Then the author of the exhibition explained its content and objectives to those present, and thanked those present at the opening of the exhibition.
The audience visited the exhibition and later enjoyed the projection of more images about Cuba, in digital format, which were shown on a giant screen located on the roof of the Labor Center, in the open air. It was an unforgettable and heartfelt encounter of love between the peoples of Cuba and Greece, in a working-class neighborhood of Athens, Nueva Smirny, from the image, solidarity, commitment, close friendship, and memory.
In the images: photos taken on the opening day, and some images that are part of the exhibition "With Cuba in the heart" exhibited at the Nueva Smirny Labor Center, a working-class neighborhood of Athens, on September 15, 2020.
