Fidel Has Left Us, Our Friendship With the Cuban People is Unwavering

On November 25, our friend Fidel left us! As José Martí (1853-1895), a Cuban national hero whose life is an inspiration for the Cuban people, said:

“Death is a victory; and when a person has lived well, the coffin is a triumphal chariot.”

This is the homage we must pay to Fidel today.

LET US REMEMBER!

Fidel personified the aspirations of the Cuban people to national sovereignty, economic independence and social justice. In fact, this is what all the peoples of the world aspire to. He was the voice that rose up against the hegemony of capital and big corporations. He was the voice that defended the world’s oppressed and disinherited. For this, we give him our thanks. And this is what history will remember.

Today, no one can question Fidel Castro’s determination and political courage in defending the interests of the Cuban people against American imperialism, against the economic embargo, against the Helms-Burton Act. In the name of his people, he resisted against all the American Government’s attacks and attempts to interfere. In our National Constitution, Policy D-22 reads as follows:

“Cubans should be the ones to direct their own futures and should be the ones to elect their form of government.”

It is this ongoing struggle that has lasted since the 1960s, this struggle for sovereignty that Fidel personified and of which Cubans are so proud. And it is what struggling peoples will retain. As Salim Lamrani, who has written several books on Cuba and its revolution, says so well: 

“A mythical rebel, who has entered the pantheon of the great liberators of the Americas, the former guerrilla of the Sierra Maestra has seen his prestige surpass continental borders to become the archetype of anti-imperialism in the twentieth century and the champion of a universal message of emancipation.”

AN UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP WITH THE CUBAN PEOPLE

The Cuban people’s struggle has been our struggle for decades. It is part of our struggle for a better world. That is why we regularly send delegations of sisters and brothers to Cuba, that we take part in May 1^st celebrations and that we have developed a relationship with SNTCIE, the union that represents Cuban postal workers. And this will continue for years to come.

Solidarity in action.

Compañero Fidel,

¡Hasta la victoria, Siempre!