N.Y. meeting highlights resistance in the Americas

Special to Workers World

An inspiring meeting on the vibrant and militant struggles throughout the Americas was held at the Solidarity Center in New York on Jan. 22. The newly-formed Latin America-Caribbean Solidarity Committee of the International Action Center (www.iacenter.org/lacsc/id/) hosted the event, which featured live video and phone presentations from Honduras and Puerto Rico.

WW photo: LeiLani Dowell

Gerardo Torres, Secretary General of the Honduran political youth organization Los Necios, spoke to the meeting via phone. Los Necios is a member of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP), which has brought together all sectors of the Honduran working class in the wake of the 2009 U.S.-backed coup against President Manual Zelaya. Torres discussed plans for a FNRP-organized national assembly to be held on Feb. 26 in the capital city Tegucigalpa, with delegates from around the country who will deliberate and strategize on the course and goals of the struggle.

Giovanni Roberto, a student at the University of Puerto Rico, spoke via a Skype video conference about the struggle to prevent the privatization of the school’s 11 campuses. Since April students have engaged in strikes that have shut down campuses. Roberto described how the students are now employing more mobile tactics and appealed for the broadest support, encouraging the audience to engage in solidarity actions and post coverage on the Internet. Noting the political motivation of the school administration, Roberto mentioned that he and several other students — all of whom identify as socialists — have been expelled.

Haitian activist Ray Laforest described the ongoing resistance of the Haitian people, even in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake a year ago and in response to the sham election process in which Fanmi Lavalas, the party of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was not allowed to participate. Laforest affirmed that given the unity of the various struggles discussed at the meeting, people’s victory is inevitable.

Jaime Mendieta of Casa de las Americas discussed solidarity with Cuba. Speakers from the LACSC included Teresa Gutierrez, who gave a report-back from the seventh Cuba/Venezuela/Mexico/North America Labor Conference in Tijuana, Mexico; LeiLani Dowell, who spoke on the case of the Cuban Five; and co-chairs Donna Lazarus and Wellington Echegaray.