Cubans Honor Hugo Chavez on the 2nd Anniversary of his Death

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 6 (acn) Numerous personalities of Cuban culture and politics paid tribute on Thursday in this capital to Commander Hugo Chavez, "the best friend the Cuban people had," on the occasion of the second anniversary of his death.

A ceremony in remembrance of this singular president of stunning charisma -an incomparable disciple of Bolìvar's ideas- and of his imprint in Venezuela, Cuba and the rest of Latin America, was held at the Morro-Cabaña Park, where the museum dedicated to the Bolivarian leader is located and the agreement of created the ALBA Cultural Center was signed.
A panel made up by intellectuals Ali Rodriguez, Venezuela's ambassador to Havana; Abel Prieto, adviser to President Raul Castro; and German Sanchez, former Cuban ambassador to Venezuela, evoked Chavez from the genius of the statesman, the virtue of his ideas, and his popular vocation.
Rodriguez, a close friend and an admirer of Chavez, said that the late Commander left an invaluable legacy to his people: the sense of national dignity and independence.
He described him as a man who pondered on the atrocities of his time, adding that with the feelings of love moving every true revolutionary he was capable of returning real democracy and social justice to Venezuela.
The political, humane and upright Chavez, the infinite Chavez, was remembered by all those who participated in this ceremony at La Cabaña: by the five Cuban heroes, some of his close military men, diplomats and friends.
Also on March 5, at the San Carlos de La Cabaña Fortress, the Young Communists League organized a 9:00 p.m. meeting to pay tribute to Chavez and recall him by way of a panel, in which intellectuals, artists, journalists, sporting figures and friends participated.
Also represented at the meeting was the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), with the presence of Jose Ramon Balaguer, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the PCC; Jose Marti's followers, in the figure of Armando Hart; the Revolutionary Armed Forces, with Major General Ulises Rosales del Toro, and politically committed journalism, with Walter Martinez.
In the words of writer Katiuska Blanco, "to think about Venezuela without Chavez would be like thinking about that country without Bolivar."
Singer-songwriters Raul Torres and Eduardo Sosa and young jazz man Michel Herrera contributed their art to this homage to the Commander of the Bolivarian Revolution.