The president of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), Fernando González, highlighted on Monday the work of the international solidarity movement in support of just causes and the sovereignty of peoples.
Speaking at the main event commemorating ICAP’s 65th anniversary, held in Havana with the presence of President Miguel Díaz-Canel and more than 240 solidarity representatives from 32 countries, González emphasized that the institute has been “a witness to and active participant in the history of the Revolution,” promoting support for the just causes of the world’s peoples from within Cuban society.
He recalled that, for more than six decades, ICAP has encouraged the creation of solidarity committees on five continents, hosted important international events, and facilitated meetings for people interested in learning about the transformations brought about by the Cuban revolutionary process.
“We have marched accompanied by the unwavering support of a solidarity movement that has grown immensely during the most difficult times,” he stated, while thanking international friends for their steadfast support in defending Cuba’s right to be “free, independent, and sovereign.”
Fernando González denounced that in recent years “the economic war against Cuba has reached extreme levels,” exacerbated by the country’s arbitrary inclusion on the U.S. State Department’s unilateral list of alleged state sponsors of terrorism and by a “brutal media campaign” aimed at discrediting the Caribbean nation.
Given this situation, he called for “increasing the pace and urgency” of ICAP’s work, reinforcing the ongoing mobilization of the World Movement of Solidarity with Cuba as a collective response to the aggressions of the blockade.
He also highlighted the leading role of solidarity organizations, which “have been the voice of our Revolution on social media and in the streets of every country,” denouncing disinformation campaigns, protecting Cuban embassies from counterrevolutionary actions, and mobilizing in the face of emergencies such as fires, hurricanes, and accidents.
Fernando González underscored initiatives such as the international nomination of the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade for the Nobel Peace Prize, as well as donation campaigns to break the blockade and support the Cuban people with medical resources, pacemakers, essential medicines, and equipment to strengthen food and energy sovereignty.
The ICAP president called on solidarity movements to work “tirelessly for peace,” in defense of Palestine and the proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.
He denounced “the attempts by imperialism to renew the colonialist pretensions of the Monroe Doctrine,” evidenced, he affirmed, in “the threat of military aggression against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and in the notorious deployment of US naval forces in the Caribbean Sea, which reveals a hegemonic and criminal purpose.”
[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA ]
