New Yorkers rally to support Cuba

WW photo: John Catalinotto

Friends of the Cuban Revolution rallied in front of the Cuban Mission to the United Nations March 1 to counter a simultaneous rally of right-wing Cuban exiles. More than 100 pro-Cuba activists arrived at the mission, alerted on short notice when news came of plans for the counter-revolutionary rally. They chanted “¡Cuba Sí, Bloqueo No!” “Free the Cuban Five!” and “Long live socialist Cuba!” The pro-Cuba demonstrators drowned out the chants of the counterrevolutionaries and infuriated many of the right-wing demonstrators.

The anti-Cuba demonstration was organized by a group called “Cuba: A Cambio Ya!” Right-winger Alex Romay claimed the protest was “in favor of liberty ... and against the Castro regime.” The pro-Cuba activists argued that former Cuban President Fidel Castro presided over an unprecedented level of freedom and development for Cuba, a nation that was once virtually a colony of the United States. True liberty for Cuba would mean an end to the U.S. blockade and liberty for the five Cuban heroes trapped in U.S. prisons. In photo, Dolores Cox and Luis Barrios.