>Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 02:30:51 -0500 >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: In Havana, Thousands Protest US Cuba Blockade >In Havana, Thousands Protest US Cuba Blockade > >Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit > >Tuesday November 14 5:51 PM ET (via Yahoo) > >Foreigners Protest Cuba Embargo > >By MALCOLM FITZWILLIAMS, Associated Press Writer > >HAVANA (AP) - Thousands of pro-Cuba foreigners from around the world - >including hundreds of Americans - joined Fidel Castro on >Tuesday to demand an end to the 40-year-old U.S. trade embargo against the >communist island. > >Flags from Brazil, the African National Congress, New Zealand and other >countries and organizations fluttered amid a sea of Cuban flags as >the crowd gathered outside the U.S. Interests Section, the American mission >here. > >`If solidarity brought down apartheid, it can bring down the blockade!'' >Rosamary Janches of South Africa declared to the cheers of other >Cuba sympathizers. Americans carried a sign that read: `End to the U.S. >Blockade on Cuba - Now.'' > >With loudspeakers blaring Cuba's folk song `Guantanamera'' and a popular ode >to revolutionary icon Ernesto `Che'' Guevara, the event at >times seemed more like a giant block party than a protest. Daniel Ortega, >the former Nicaraguan guerrilla leader and president, was among >the best-known protesters. > >Castro, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and other high-ranking members >of the Cuban leadership assembled in the first row facing the >stage in the plaza, built during mass protests demanding the repatriation of >6-year-old Elian Gonzalez. > >There was not a single U.S. flag in sight, despite the involvement of about >500 American protesters. The American flag is not a welcome >symbol in Cuba and is a reminder of U.S. policies toward the island - >including the embargo - that the government here blames for its >economic woes. > >Although Cuba's leaders apparently placed much importance on the event, it >was the first such mass gathering not to be broadcast live on >state television and radio. > >The crowd of about 8,000 was divided among more than 4,000 foreigners in >town for a solidarity conference, and 4,000 Cuban and other >Latin American students who attend classes on the island. > >People from about 120 countries were in Havana for the World Encounter of >Friendship and Solidarity with Cuba, which opened Friday and >wraps up Tuesday. U.S. sanctions against Cuba have been a constant theme >during the meeting. > >Among those at the meeting were Brazilian theologian Frei Betto, the Rev. >Lucius Walker of the U.S. group Pastors for Peace and Yang >Zhinguwu of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee. > > >================================================================= > NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems > Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us > 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 > http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >================================================================= > >nytcari-11.15.00-02:30:17-21753 > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
