A large crowd of workers and young people attended the KKE event marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro. The rally also called for an immediate end to the US blockade against Cuba, the removal of Cuba from the US government’s despicable list of “state sponsors of terrorism”, and for the Greek government and other parties to take a clear stand in favour of ending the embargo.
The main speaker at the event was Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, while the Cuban Ambassador to Greece, Aramis Fuente Hernández, delivered the opening address.
Opening his speech, D. Koutsoumbas stated: “We are here today to honour the memory and legacy of one of the great communist revolutionaries of the 20th century: Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution and of the Communist Party of Cuba, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth and the 10th anniversary of his passing.
The KKE honours Fidel’s memory and his historic contribution to the cause of the social liberation of the peoples of Latin America, to internationalist solidarity with struggling peoples, and his effort to build a new society. Above all, we honour his contribution to the Cuban Revolution, the first socialist revolution on the American continent and one of the defining events of the 20th century. His long and legendary life was devoted to the revolutionary struggle of the people of his homeland. It is no coincidence that Fidel Castro, as the leader of the Cuban Revolution, became a red rag to the imperialists, exploiters, and anti-communists everywhere”.
The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE went on to speak extensively about Fidel Castro, highlighting key moments in his life that are inseparably linked to the struggle of the heroic people of Cuba, who have endured imperialist aggression for decades. D. Koutsoumbas rejected the pretexts used by the imperialists to attack Cuba and stated, among other things:
“From the very victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the KKE has consistently stood alongside the Cuban people. It expressed its solidarity even during the difficult years of illegality and dictatorship in Greece, and continues to do so today, regardless of the cost or sacrifices involved.
Together with dozens of other Communist and Workers’ Parties around the world, we are strengthening initiatives of support and solidarity with Cuba and with all peoples suffering from imperialist interventions, wars and oppression.
We support the Communist Parties; we support the peoples, who alone have the right to determine the course of events in their own countries. We support the common struggle of the peoples against capitalist–imperialist barbarity and the joint struggle to abolish the exploitation of man by man.
Today, once again, faithful to our internationalist duty, and declare: Hands off Cuba!
Send the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz —deployed in the Caribbean to advance their war-mongering plans— back where it came from.
Let the US imperialists not dare to attack the Island of the Revolution!
They will find us standing in their way at every step of any escalation of aggression against Cuba. They will find the trade unions, the anti-war, pro-peace, and anti-imperialist movement, the student unions, the women’s organizations, and every mass organization fighting for the interests of the working class and the people standing in their path.
We join our voices with those of the people and youth of Cuba, who demonstrate and proclaim that neither threats, nor isolation, nor the energy embargo, nor fabricated accusations will break their will!
We salute the more than 6.2 million Cubans —over 80% of those eligible to vote— who recently signed the appeal in defence of their homeland.
Two months ago, the KKE organized a mass rally in the centre of Athens and a demonstration outside the US Embassy, making it crystal clear that Cuba is not alone! The Cuban people have the communists and the Greek people by their side in their struggle against the new escalation of imperialist aggression and the barbaric economic blockade.
We organized another militant protest outside the US Embassy following the prosecution of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, General Raúl Castro. We are raising our voice in the Greek Parliament, while the KKE’s MEPs are expressing their militant solidarity with Cuba and condemning anti-communism and the counter-revolutionary forces harboured by the EU in the European Parliament.
KKE organizations are carrying out hundreds of initiatives throughout Greece, including events, demonstrations, and concerts, to inform the public and express the Greek people’s solidarity with Cuba.
We are signing and circulating a statement that has already gathered thousands of signatures from workers, elected representatives of the popular movement, and prominent public figures across the country, both online and in print. We have submitted this statement to MPs from other parties in Parliament, and dozens of them, in addition to the KKE’s 21 MPs, have already signed it.
We support the initiatives of the Greek–Cuban Association of Friendship and Solidarity.
