Foreign friends pay tribute to Cuban founding fathers

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba, May 5 (ACN) Around 131 friends in solidarity with Cuba, members of the XV International May Day Brigade, paid tribute this Thursday to the founding fathers of the nation at the Altar of the Homeland of the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery in this city.

The highest authorities of the province presided over the tribute to Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Mariana Grajales, José Martí and historic leader Fidel Castro and thanked the visitors for their support to the Cuban Revolution during these years.

They also toured areas of the patrimonial cemetery where important figures of the national history and culture, members of the 26th of July Movement and internationalists who participated in the liberating deeds of Africa in the 20th century rest.

Santa Ifigenia became a platform to demand the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on the island for six decades, and intensified during the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, just when unity among nations was most needed to overcome the world health crisis.

Rob Miller, director of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign in the United Kingdom, told ACN that his organization, with more than four thousand members, develops demonstrations and exchanges between British and Cuban residents there and in other parts of the world, in order to provide information and show the truth about the island.

According to what he explained, his agenda is focused on exerting pressure on the government of his country in order to improve bilateral relations with the island and to show the US administration the existence of other ways based on respect, friendship, peace and solidarity, without blockades or aggressions.

He pointed out that the hostile policy affects the dignity of Cubans and Americans, in particular, and the rest of the world, in general, because of its extraterritorial nature.

The genocidal law, he said, limits the conclusion of agreements and contracts with third nations, and exemplified that private companies and banks of the United Kingdom act against the Antillean country under pressure from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, a financial control agency under the U.S. Treasury Department.

Miller, who recently received the Friendship Medal -awarded by the Council of States of the Republic-, affirmed that such attitudes also tarnish the dignity of his fellow countrymen, hence the assurance of always being close to the Cuban people.

The dear friend emphasized that they will never fail Fidel, this Caribbean people and its Revolution and will continue the battle in the construction of a better planet that places man at the center of management, just like Cuba's example.

The visitors arrived in the Hero City last Wednesday and received a warm welcome in the Hall of Mirrors of the Provincial Government, where they enjoyed the melodies of the Madrigalista Choir, the oldest choral institution in the country.

The program of activities in this locality includes visits to museums and sites that revere history and meetings in communities in the midst of social transformation.

This Brigade, convened by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, began its activities on April 25 at the Julio Antonio Mella International Camp in Artemisa and participated in the May Day parade and the Solidarity Meeting held on May 2 in the capital