Report back from the 1st International Youth Summit on the Cuban 5
In Havana, Cuba
CLICK ON THE PHOTOS FOR LARGER VERSIONS!
50 people, mainly youth, came to the Britannia Community Centre in Vancouver on May 22nd to hear an exciting report back from the 1st International Youth Conference on the case of the Cuban 5 in Havana, Cuba. The event, co-organized by Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC) and the Free the Cuban 5 Committee - Vancouver, featured three local Vancouver social justice and Cuba activists who recently returned from Cuba after spending two exciting weeks there, attending meetings, rallies, May Day celebrations, and the Conference on the case of the Cuban 5.
The event was MC’d by Jose Angel of the Solidarity Coalition for a United Latin America (SCULA). Jose introduced the evening noting the importance of the role of Cuba in the world today and the immorality of the US government’s aggression against Cuba and Latin America. The crowd was then shown an inspiring slideshow that had pictures of the conference in Cuba, and of the May Day celebrations.
Jose introduced the first speaker, Tamara Hansen, an SFU student and the co-ordinator of VCSC, who detailed the long history of US terrorism against Cuba and the case of the Cuban 5. Tamara explained the importance of the case of the Cuban 5 and how it shows the hypocrisy of the US’ “War on Terror.” Tamara described how the conference, which began on April 29th, was full of internationalism as 420 youth and students representing 43 countries attended the festivities in support of the Cuban 5! The next speaker, Esteban Gonzalez Arteaga, a high school student and organizer with VCSC, described the second day of the conference and how Cuban revolutionary leader Armando Hart spoke to the young guests about the Cuban revolution, his experience as a youth with the organizing July 26th movement up to the Cuban revolution, and the case of the Cuban 5. The third speaker was Shannon Bundock, co-chair of Mobilization Against War and Occupation, who talked about how the President of the Cuban National Assembly of People’s Power, Ricardo Alarcon, talked of the case of the Cuban 5 and how more and more people around the world are standing up for the Cuban 5.
After Shannon’s initial talk the speakers went through a second round and spoke of the international character of the conference and how so many different regions of the world were involved. Participants from Venezuela, Ecuador, Belgium, Western Sahara, and dozens of other countries shared their experiences with Tamara, Esteban, and Shannon who in turn told the audience at Britannia of the support for the Cuban revolution around the world. They also talked about their experiences at the May Day celebrations that lined many streets in downtown Havana where millions of people marched in support of the Cuban revolutionary government and May 1st, International Worker’s Day.
In a third and final round to this dynamic evening, the three speakers told the audience about how the Cuban revolution is changing the lives of millions of people around the world, showing people that a better world is possible. They described how Cuba is sending thousands of doctors to places like Pakistan and Venezuela and is becoming a world health power, while the US is sending hundreds of thousands of troops around the world to invade and occupy many nations and is imprisoning anti-terrorists like the Cuban 5.
The event finished up with audience members discussing revolutionary Cuba and the case of the Cuban 5. The audience loudly applauded the successful presentation and stayed around to talk more with Tamara, Esteban, and Shannon and ask questions about their trip to Cuba.
