Youthful Solidarity with Cuba

Stephen McCloskey reports on the 14th World Festival of Students and Youth in Cuba.

Cuba hosted the 14th World Festival of Students and Youth this summer, 50 years after the first gathering in Prague back in 1947. Over 12,000 delegates from 137 countries attended the Festival which was double the number originally anticipated by the Cuban organisers and include a delegation of ten from Ireland organised under the auspices of Cuba Support Group. The number of delegates was a clear rebuff to the United States which had actively encouraged countries to boycott the event as part of its policy of attempting to isolate Cuba on the world stage. The presence of a 600 strong delegation from the US itself further underlined the Clinton administration's lack of success in disrupting the Festival and dissuading delegates from attending the event.

The Festival was held from 28th July - 5th August in Havana and had the primary aim of strengthening friendship and solidarity amongst youth organizations, NGOs, human rights groups, political movements and campaigning bodies from around the globe. Networking was facilitated by the organisation of Friendship Fares whereby visiting delegations displayed and exchanged literature and information on the respective organisations they represented. African, Asian, European and Latin American centres served as fora for a range of activities organised by the Cuban hosts or the visiting delegates including roundtable discussions on single issues or specific countries. Visits were rotated around the various centres to facilitate meetings and discussion between delegates from different regions which was particularly welcome from a North-South global perspective.

The Festival's opening and closing ceremonies were the only events attended by all 12000 delegates but provided a memorable spectacle for everyone involved. The Festival's opening was marked by a colourful procession of banner and songs which snaked its way through the streets of Havana thronged with people to the city's university where we were greeted by Commandante el Jefe, Fidel Castro. For the Cuban people, the Festival represented solidarity with them in their struggle against the ongoing US embargo of their country now in its 36th year. The embargo has been repeatedly condemned by the United Nations and its legality challenged at the World Trade Organisation. The effects of US policy on Cuba were clearly visible to visiting delegates as the country is starved of basic food and medicinal provisions, and survives through its own resourcefulness, economic austerity, aid and the luring of foreign investment, particularly in tourism.

The Festival offered an insight into the multitude of problems created by the blockade as delegates stayed with families in Havana during their visit. The Irish delegation was housed in Regla, a large municipality about 30 minutes drive from the centre of Havana, and the hospitality offered by our host families was overwhelming as they stretched their limited resources to accommodate us. Regular power cuts, inadequate living space caused by housing shortages, lack of essential foodstuffs and fuel are the main day-to-day difficulties faced by Cubans in the face of the embargo. The state however, did provide additional food rations to all of the families hosting delegates.

There was an immense interest - from the Cubans and other delegates - in the Irish conflict during the Festival following the announcement of the renewed IRA ceasefire on 19th July. A well attended debate on anti-imperialism and Ireland in the European centre reflected this interest, and the political situation in Ireland regularly featured in a series of high profile conferences which were the centre piece of the Festival. Debates on human rights, democracy and participation, and anti-imperialism were held in packed 2,000 seated conference rooms, and were relayed live on Cuban television. An anti-imperialist tribunal presided over by an international judge listened to evidence of human rights abuses perpetrated throughout the world including East Timor, Western Sahara, Palestine and South Africa. The tribunal also heard evidence on human rights abuses in Ireland including the use of plastic bullets, emergency legislation and extra-judicial state killings. These abuses were condemned by the tribunal in its final judgement on the evidence.

The Festival was dominated by, an to an extent dedicated to, a revolutionary who had died 30 years before. Che Guevara's image appeared in the logo, and of course on merchandise sold throughout the city. Former comrades of Che swapped anecdotes about his exploits in the Sierra Maestra in a special Festival event. Che as a revolutionary icon has transcended generations, and the recent discovery of his remains together with the 30th anniversary of his death, looks set to kindle the interest of a new generation.

The Festival's closing ceremony was an astonishingly choreographed pageant of dance, both traditional and modern, held in the Pan-American Games stadium filled to its capacity of around 30,000 which included delegates and their Cuban "families". The Irish delegation, most of whom had participated in a work brigade for two weeks prior to the Festival, appreciated the opportunity to visit Cuba in a non-tourist capacity and many remained in the island for a week after the Festival closed, to visit other provinces.

The Cuban organisers clearly regarded the Festival as a success both as a statement of solidarity with the island against the blockade, and in terms of facilitating closer links between the organisations represented at the event. It was clear to all participating delegates however, that the US embargo can only be resisted through enhanced campaign work in support of the Cuban people, the increased isolation of the US on this issue, and more tangibly by sending supplies of the food and medicinal supplies most desperately needed by the Cuban people.

For further information contact the Cuba Support Group at 15 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. Phone 01- 6761213.

 

US Doctors Find Blockade Damages Cuban Health

Declan McKenna reviews a recent report from the American Association for World Health.

After a year-long investigation, the American Association for World Health (AAWH) - the US Committee of the World Health Organisation - has determined that the US blockade of Cuba has dramatically harmed the health and nutrition of large numbers of ordinary Cuban citizens. As documented by the report, the expert medical opinion was that the US blockade has imposed significant burdens on the Cuban health care system.

The investigation found that a humanitarian catastrophe has been averted only because the Cuban government has maintained a high level of budgetary support for a health care to all of its citizens. Cuba still has an infant mortality rate half that of the city of Washington, DC. Even so, the US blockade of food and the de facto embargo on medical supplies has wreaked havoc with the island’s model primary health care system.

The report exposes the blockade as an attack on human rights and a breach of international law and raises serious questions about dominant position of the US in the manufacture, licensing and supply of medicines and medical equipment.

The report is titled The Impact of the US Embargo On Health & Nutrition In Cuba: Denial of Food and Medicine, March 1997. A summary of the report is available from the Cuba Health and Education Project (CHE Project) 15 Merrion Square Dublin 2. Phone 01-6761213.

 

 

International Work Brigade to Cuba

20th December 1997 - 10th January 1998

For details contact the Cuba Support Group

15 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. Ph: 01-6761213

(Photo CSG) A well earned rest for some brigidistas