12 April 2001 Edition
Cuban solidarity groups meet
On Saturday and Sunday 7 and 8 April, Cuban solidarity groups from across Northern Europe met in Dublin. Once a year, these organisations assemble in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Britain or Ireland to co-ordinate their work, exchange experiences and to plan for the year ahead. The primary aim of these annual conferences is to organise working brigades to Cuba. Every year, two North European Brigades travel to the Caribbean country. Also discussed was the political, educational, and humanitarian work that solidarity organisations undertake.
On this occasion they discussed the common position that has been adopted by the European Union against Cuba and they are now planing a campaign to get the European Union to change its policy.
Elio Gomez Neyra, director of the Cuban Institute for People's Friendship (ICAP) and Luis Marr—n, head of the North European Section within the Cuban organisation, were at the conference. In the first of a two-part series on Cuba, they spoke to An Phoblacht's SOLEDAD GALIANA.
An Phoblacht - How valuable is the presence and work of the solidarity organisations in Europe?
Luis Marrn - There were people working in solidarity with Cuba before the revolution. When the US hardened their terrible campaign to isolate Cuba after the victory of the revolution, peoples all around the world showed their support to the Cuban people. This solidarity has been deep-rooted and Europe has not been an exception.
At the moment, there are 400 organisations in solidarity with Cuba in all the European countries.
Obviously, upholding the revolution has been and is the responsibility of Cuban people. But the support we have received over the years from this area, from Northern Europe, has been really important. To know that so far away there are people who sacrifice their time and money in solidarity with the Cuban cause is important.
AP - What are the principal issues that Cuban people would like solidarity groups to work on for the next year?
Elio G‡mez - The priorities are still the same. First of all, the fight against the blockade, not only the material blockade, but also the political. The different groups have organised various campaigns to send those products we are lacking to Cuba, especially medicines.
The work of these solidarity organisations is also essential in the information area. The editorial policy in most of the European media on Cuban issues is to magnify the difficulties and to silence the achievements of the Revolution. What we ask is that they publish the truth about what is going on in Cuba.
We want to repeat once again that we are not the paradise some of our friends would describe. Neither are we the hellish experience that some of our enemies like to portray and that some big media in Europe like to publish. There is no objectivity or balance when the European media speak about Cuba.
AP - Can you tell us about the different solidarity projects organised from Cuba?
EG - Right now, there are more than a thousand Cuban doctors in Latin American countries. There are also more than a thousand doctors in African countries. In South Africa alone there are more than 500 Cuban doctors. These doctors are working in the remotest places: in the mountains, in the jungle, places where local doctors will not work.
We have opened a Medical Science College in Havana, where Latin American students who could not continue their studies due to lack of material resources, study for free. There is only one condition attached to this opportunity we offer: once they finish their studies they have to go back to their own countries to work in their own villages.
We also opened an Art Faculty and a Sport Faculty to train youth from developing countries so they can develop sport and cultural structures in their villages.
Cuban hospitals have treated more than 30,000 children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident and our country will continue with this medical project in the future. Some weeks ago, an MEP stated in one of the European Parliament sessions that Cuba has done more for Chernobyl's children than all the member states of the European Union as a whole.
This solidarity with developing countries is for Cuba an obligation, because we, as a recipient of solidarity ourselves, know of the need for it. So we carry out this obligation with pride.
AP - How is the relationship between the Caribbean and Latin American countries, and Cuba? Is the US influence on these countries creating new obstacles for Cuba?
EG - The politics of blockade apply to everything. Sometimes people think this is only an economic blockade but we are suffering a diplomatic, information and financial blockade. We should also add the pressure imposed by the US government upon any country that may want to establish any kind of relations with Cuba.
However, we should differentiate between the relationship with the peoples, which is very close, and the relationship with governments.
Our relationship with our neighbours in the Caribbean area is better than with the Latin American countries. This is because in the Caribbean many countries were colonies of European colonial powers. Because some of them still keep close links with these European countries, they do not depend as much on the US economy.
In Latin America the situation is slightly different because of US pressure. Some votes on Cuba undertaken at UN meetings are clear examples of this conflict of interests. The result is different depending on whether or not the vote is secret. When the vote is secret, the decisions have mostly favoured Cuba.
In the next few weeks, the Human Rights Commission in Geneva will decide on a proposal to condemn the Cuban government. There has not been a single case of violation, killing or political prosecution. There is not a child without education or a senior citizen without due health care. Every unemployed person is receiving his/her entitlements. But our government has to sit and face this accusation. No developed country has been forced to go through something like that. Will Israel suffer something like that? They are not been held accountable for the killing of all those Palestinian people.
The US worries because the correlation of interests has changed in the last few months. We know that the US has been carrying out an important diplomatic offensive in the last few days to try to ensure that the condemnation proposal proposed by the Czech Republic against Cuba gets the support it needs.
AP - Why do you think the US establishment still holds the same position in relation to Cuba after the end of the cold war and the disappearance of the Communist Block?
EG - We are not expecting anything positive from the new president. He is very committed to the US-Cuban lobby. Maybe the reason for this hostile policy is that we are not afraid to confront the US establishment in the international forums and they do not like it. But whatever the pressure, we are ready to keep this position with dignity.
LM - It is important to remind people that the US position is nothing new. It was not caused by the revolution. In the 1780s, one of the founders of the Union, Thomas Jefferson, already considered Cuba one of the most valuable additions that could be made to their state structure.
Before the 1959 Revolution, the US ambassador to Cuba had more power over the island than the Cuban president. But the Revolution was the end of the US dream of taking over Cuba and the beginning of the very hostile relationship with the island. They never asked Cuban people what they wanted. They wanted to decide for us because they consider us inferior.
I think that today Cuba represents a political and economic alternative, a different and fairer way of living. It is not perfect - we have thousands of problems and issues to resolve - but it is an alternative.
Finally, it would be very difficult for the most powerful government in the world to accept, to recognise after 40 years, that their policy on Cuba is wrong and has failed.
With Bush we do not expect anything good. With Clinton it was the same. There was a lot of talking about the end of the blockade on medicines and food, but everything remained as it was. We had to explain to people this was much ado about nothing, because the US's conflicting statements created lots of confusion.
We in Cuba do not have any grudge against the US people. I think we could learn a lot from the US people, as we think they have a lot to learn from us.
On this occasion they discussed the common position that has been adopted by the European Union against Cuba and they are now planing a campaign to get the European Union to change its policy.
Elio Gomez Neyra, director of the Cuban Institute for People's Friendship (ICAP) and Luis Marr—n, head of the North European Section within the Cuban organisation, were at the conference. In the first of a two-part series on Cuba, they spoke to An Phoblacht's SOLEDAD GALIANA.
An Phoblacht - How valuable is the presence and work of the solidarity organisations in Europe?
Luis Marrn - There were people working in solidarity with Cuba before the revolution. When the US hardened their terrible campaign to isolate Cuba after the victory of the revolution, peoples all around the world showed their support to the Cuban people. This solidarity has been deep-rooted and Europe has not been an exception.
At the moment, there are 400 organisations in solidarity with Cuba in all the European countries.
Obviously, upholding the revolution has been and is the responsibility of Cuban people. But the support we have received over the years from this area, from Northern Europe, has been really important. To know that so far away there are people who sacrifice their time and money in solidarity with the Cuban cause is important.
AP - What are the principal issues that Cuban people would like solidarity groups to work on for the next year?
Elio G‡mez - The priorities are still the same. First of all, the fight against the blockade, not only the material blockade, but also the political. The different groups have organised various campaigns to send those products we are lacking to Cuba, especially medicines.
The work of these solidarity organisations is also essential in the information area. The editorial policy in most of the European media on Cuban issues is to magnify the difficulties and to silence the achievements of the Revolution. What we ask is that they publish the truth about what is going on in Cuba.
We want to repeat once again that we are not the paradise some of our friends would describe. Neither are we the hellish experience that some of our enemies like to portray and that some big media in Europe like to publish. There is no objectivity or balance when the European media speak about Cuba.
AP - Can you tell us about the different solidarity projects organised from Cuba?
EG - Right now, there are more than a thousand Cuban doctors in Latin American countries. There are also more than a thousand doctors in African countries. In South Africa alone there are more than 500 Cuban doctors. These doctors are working in the remotest places: in the mountains, in the jungle, places where local doctors will not work.
We have opened a Medical Science College in Havana, where Latin American students who could not continue their studies due to lack of material resources, study for free. There is only one condition attached to this opportunity we offer: once they finish their studies they have to go back to their own countries to work in their own villages.
We also opened an Art Faculty and a Sport Faculty to train youth from developing countries so they can develop sport and cultural structures in their villages.
Cuban hospitals have treated more than 30,000 children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident and our country will continue with this medical project in the future. Some weeks ago, an MEP stated in one of the European Parliament sessions that Cuba has done more for Chernobyl's children than all the member states of the European Union as a whole.
This solidarity with developing countries is for Cuba an obligation, because we, as a recipient of solidarity ourselves, know of the need for it. So we carry out this obligation with pride.
AP - How is the relationship between the Caribbean and Latin American countries, and Cuba? Is the US influence on these countries creating new obstacles for Cuba?
EG - The politics of blockade apply to everything. Sometimes people think this is only an economic blockade but we are suffering a diplomatic, information and financial blockade. We should also add the pressure imposed by the US government upon any country that may want to establish any kind of relations with Cuba.
However, we should differentiate between the relationship with the peoples, which is very close, and the relationship with governments.
Our relationship with our neighbours in the Caribbean area is better than with the Latin American countries. This is because in the Caribbean many countries were colonies of European colonial powers. Because some of them still keep close links with these European countries, they do not depend as much on the US economy.
In Latin America the situation is slightly different because of US pressure. Some votes on Cuba undertaken at UN meetings are clear examples of this conflict of interests. The result is different depending on whether or not the vote is secret. When the vote is secret, the decisions have mostly favoured Cuba.
In the next few weeks, the Human Rights Commission in Geneva will decide on a proposal to condemn the Cuban government. There has not been a single case of violation, killing or political prosecution. There is not a child without education or a senior citizen without due health care. Every unemployed person is receiving his/her entitlements. But our government has to sit and face this accusation. No developed country has been forced to go through something like that. Will Israel suffer something like that? They are not been held accountable for the killing of all those Palestinian people.
The US worries because the correlation of interests has changed in the last few months. We know that the US has been carrying out an important diplomatic offensive in the last few days to try to ensure that the condemnation proposal proposed by the Czech Republic against Cuba gets the support it needs.
AP - Why do you think the US establishment still holds the same position in relation to Cuba after the end of the cold war and the disappearance of the Communist Block?
EG - We are not expecting anything positive from the new president. He is very committed to the US-Cuban lobby. Maybe the reason for this hostile policy is that we are not afraid to confront the US establishment in the international forums and they do not like it. But whatever the pressure, we are ready to keep this position with dignity.
LM - It is important to remind people that the US position is nothing new. It was not caused by the revolution. In the 1780s, one of the founders of the Union, Thomas Jefferson, already considered Cuba one of the most valuable additions that could be made to their state structure.
Before the 1959 Revolution, the US ambassador to Cuba had more power over the island than the Cuban president. But the Revolution was the end of the US dream of taking over Cuba and the beginning of the very hostile relationship with the island. They never asked Cuban people what they wanted. They wanted to decide for us because they consider us inferior.
I think that today Cuba represents a political and economic alternative, a different and fairer way of living. It is not perfect - we have thousands of problems and issues to resolve - but it is an alternative.
Finally, it would be very difficult for the most powerful government in the world to accept, to recognise after 40 years, that their policy on Cuba is wrong and has failed.
With Bush we do not expect anything good. With Clinton it was the same. There was a lot of talking about the end of the blockade on medicines and food, but everything remained as it was. We had to explain to people this was much ado about nothing, because the US's conflicting statements created lots of confusion.
We in Cuba do not have any grudge against the US people. I think we could learn a lot from the US people, as we think they have a lot to learn from us.