Report Back Do you want to travel to Cuba ? Esperanza Luzbert Director for the Canada and North America Desks of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) Three days full of Cuba events in British Columbia can be summed up in two words: “Viva Cuba!” From March 7th through 9th Esperanza Luzbert, the Director for the Canada and North America Desks of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), spoke at community and campus events in Vancouver and Victoria. The tour, which spreads all across Canada, was organized by the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC). The Vancouver events were co-organized by Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC), the Canadian Cuban Friendship Association-Vancouver, and the Free the Cuban Five Committee-Vancouver. The title of the Vancouver events was “Do you want to travel to Cuba? Join the Ernesto Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade!” On March 7th Esperanza spoke to an audience of young people, students, retirees, workers, and about the volunteer work brigade that visits Cuba every year. The audience learned about the volunteer work, the cultural experience, and the salsa lessons that past “brigadistas” experienced on the trip. Esperanza also detailed the tremendous humanitarian mission that Cuban doctors have been involved with in earthquake devastated Haiti. She documented, with a slideshow, the hundreds of Cuban doctors and the hundreds of Cuban-trained Haitian and Latin American doctors working for free in Haiti before and after the earthquake. In addition to the Brigade and the Cuban aid to Haiti, Esperanza outlined the case of five Cuban political prisoners held in US prisons. The “Cuban Five” as they are known, have been in US prisons for over 11 years now on politically motivated charges of conspiracy to commit espionage. “They broke no US law,” Esperanza noted, “in fact they fought against the terrorism that had been waged on Cuba for over 5 decades - and the response of the US government was to jail them up and throw away the key.” After a very successful event in Victoria on March 8th organized with the Victoria Goods for Cuba campaign, FMLN Victoria and Victoria Peace Coalition, Esperanza came back to Vancouver the next morning to speak to students at two campus events. Over 40 students at Capilano University and Simon Fraser University attended to learn more about the “Che” Brigade, the Cuban doctors in Haiti, and the case of the Cuban Five. With time counting down before the 2010 “Che” Brigade, Esperanza’s successful tour on the west coast of Canada increased the excitement and buzz growing around the trip. The other Canadian cities included in her visit are Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton and Kingston. After her tour throughout Canada Esperanza will be heading back to the sunny skies of Cuba waiting and preparing for the 2010 Che Guevara Brigade to reach its destination. Don’t miss out, join the 2010 Brigade! Click to view photo: