In Belgium, love and solidarity for Cuba
Belgium -The first activity of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, turned out to be warm, Cuban, familiar and very moving, a few hours after his arrival in this city, where he participated in the Third Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU).

Author: Alina Perera Robbio | perera@juventudrebelde.cu

Author: Yaima Puig Meneses | informacion@granmai.cu

july 20, 2023 08:07:58

BRUSSELS, Belgium -The first activity of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, turned out to be warm, Cuban, familiar and very moving, a few hours after his arrival in this city, where he participated in the Third Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU).
It was an exchange also marked by admiration and respect for Cuba, with a representation of Cubans living in Belgium and other European countries; friends of solidarity throughout the region, as well as members of the delegation of the Caribbean island to the Summit of the Peoples. Also present were the staff of the Cuban Embassy in this nation, several members of the European Parliament, and authorities of the Belgian Labor Party, the Party of the European Left, and the Communist Party of Spain.
As the Diaz-Canel himself said: “A Cuban ajiaco; because there are people of different creeds, origins and latitudes, who are united by friendship, love and the conviction that together we can achieve a better world. An ajiaco of love and solidarity”.
“A dream come true”, as the Cuban ambassador to Belgium, Yaira Jimenez Roig, said when welcoming the president, along with with his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza and the Cuban delegation that attended the summit.
COMPLEXITIES, HOMELAND, FRIENDS
Just over 200 people participated in the meeting, in which President Díaz-Canel explained in detail how complex the economic situation in Cuba became as of the second semester of 2019, when the United States Government “took to the maximum expression” its intention to suffocate the people and seek a social outbreak that would overthrow the Cuban Revolution.
The imperial logic that has been applied, he affirmed, has various components, among which he mentioned the media strategy to discredit the Revolution and the neocolonial and neoliberal restoration platform, aimed at “breaking the identities of our peoples, seeking to make them see their cultural and historical essences as obsolete.”
Among other tremendous acts committed against the Caribbean nation, he recalled the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade on scales never seen before, and the inclusion of Cuba in the list of alleged countries that sponsor terrorism, actions that have brought with them, among other consequences, shortages of medicines, raw materials and fuel to support electricity generation at certain times.
In his words with his friends, it was inevitable to talk about those very difficult days lived during the confrontation with the COVID-19 pandemic; of the devotion of the health personnel, both in the national territory and in other parts of the world; as well as the development of our own vaccines, a fact that allowed the feat of carrying out an unprecedented vaccination campaign in the country.
And right here, in the midst of so many friends, was Belinda Sánchez Ramírez, a scientist at the Center for Molecular Immunology, who was part of the team of Cuban researchers that developed our vaccines and today is in Brussels as part of the Cuban civil society that is attending the People’s Summit. The President introduced her to the audience, and for her it was the shocking applause, the thanks and the endearing hug.
These have been extremely complex years, recalled Díaz-Canel, in which, in addition to the many obstacles and adversities brought by the virus, Cuba had to face a deficit in the supply of medical oxygen; the Saratoga Hotel explosion; the fire at the Matanzas Supertanker base; as well as the passage of Hurricane Ian through the west of the island. The help of solidarity countries was essential to deal with each of these complex scenarios.
The Cuban President spoke to his friends about creative resistance, that concept that has been put into practice in Cuba in recent years, and that is not only resisting the blockade, but, in the midst of that resistance, doing things that develop the country. It is to create with our own talent and with our own efforts, the president emphasized, and to take these ideas to all areas of life in society.
You, he told them, are also part of that creative resistance of our people: the residents abroad who have not broken with Cuba or with their families; our diplomats, who not only assume the challenge of defending the Homeland in the political arena, but also looking for ways to strengthen ties that will improve the economic situation; and who are going to defend us at the People’s Summit.
As part of that creative resistance, he also recognized the comrades in solidarity with Cuba in Europe, “who every day give us encouragement, give us strength and commit us a lot, because knowing that you are seeing a light in the Cuban position for the world to improve, that also commits us to doing things better.”
Regarding the principles that Cuba went to defend at this III Celac-EU Summit, the president assured that “we are not going to admit interference in our internal affairs, nor are we going to allow singularization of our realities or those of any country, and we are going to defend our convictions”.
Rest assured, he concluded, that Cuba and the Cuban Revolution will always win.
FRIENDLY VOICES IN EUROPE
Emotions and experiences were shared in Brussels, where friendly voices demonstrated, once again, that Cuba is not alone and will never be alone in its fight against the unfair blockade imposed by the United States Government.
Right here, in the heart of Europe, the vice president of Los Amigos de Cuba, Freddy Tack, recognized that the Island is “an example of international solidarity, a small Caribbean country that stands as an example for all the peoples of the world.”
Loraine González Arroyo, a Cuban resident in this European nation, spoke about the honor that participating in this meeting means for her. We are thousands of Cubans in this country, she assured her, that we remain committed to the Homeland, as a united and supportive community that continues to support our Island despite the more than 7,600 kilometers that separate us from it.
Our duty, she said, is to support and preserve sovereignty, regardless of how far away we are physically, and to keep alive that feeling of love, solidarity and humanism that identifies us as Cubans.
“What else can we do for Cuba?” Raoul Hedebouw, president of the Belgian Labor Party, asked himself during the meeting, who is also in charge of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Cuba, a position from which, he said, he has “the opportunity to also take the diplomatic platform to do more for Cuba from the standpoint of solidarity.”
We are here, he emphasized, “to testify to the support of our Party for Cuba at a time that is not easy, because for us Cuba represents the flame, the hope, the proof that a different world is possible, that a better world is possible.”
Of strengths, love, commitment, support… hopes, they spoke in Belgium. And as a sign of gratitude to Cuba and its heroic people, President Díaz-Canel received, from the hands of the Cuban resident in Belgium, Menia Martínez, prima ballerina of the National Ballet of Cuba and artistic director of the Brussels Dance Conservatory, a replica of the only bust of José Martí that stands in this city; a place, say friends, that has become a must for Cubans who come to Belgium. The bust is the work of the artist José Villa Soberón, National Prize for Plastic Arts.
The meeting closed at the most joyful Cuban rhythm, marked by the love and familiarity of the children of Cuba and her friends, who, no matter how far away they are from her, always find reasons to continue singing to the Homeland. •

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