Cuba hosts, as of today, solidarity day of with Puerto Rican people

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 16 (ACN) The traditional Day of Solidarity with the Puerto Rican people's independence cause began at the headquarters of the Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP by its Spanish acronym) with a photographic exhibition evoking the life of Puerto Rican leader Filiberto Ojeda Ríos on the 20th anniversary of his assassination by the FBI.

Hundreds of FBI agents surrounded the 72-year-old fighter and, already wounded, left him to bleed to death. The crime was committed on September 23, 2005, precisely during the celebration of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) that took place on that day in 1868, proclaiming the island's independence from the Spanish crown.

The event has since been dominated by the repudiated US colonialism. The exhibition presents striking images of Puerto Ricans' grief and indignation over the assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Rios at the public funeral that bid farewell to the hero, whose remains were paraded by tens of thousands of his compatriots.

Elma Beatriz Rosado, Filiberto's wife and a member of the Hostosiano National Independence Movement (MINH) delegation participating in the event, expressed with emotion, "20 years after that infamous crime, I am here with the eternal solidarity of sister Cuba."

She affirmed that the Commander of the Macheteros Popular Army will always live in the heart of Puerto Rico, and emphasized that the legendary fighter was close to the Cuban Revolution.

Julia Cabrera, from ICAP's Latin America and Caribbean Directorate, specified that this year is a special memory of the 1rst International Conference for the Independence of our sister island, held in 1975 in Cuba at the initiative of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro.

She also commemorates the 15th anniversary of the physical disappearance of Juan Mari Bras, the leader of the Puerto Rican cause, who, along with Fidel, founded the Puerto Rican Mission in 1966, the first and only Puerto Rican embassy, ​​she added.

Victor Gaute, vice president of ICAP, Julio Muriente, member of the MINH executive, and Edwin Gonzalez, head of the Puerto Rico Mission, attended the opening of the exhibition that kicked off the event, which will conclude next Saturday.