“The Struggle has to continue." Speech by Azza Rojbi, Coordinator of
Friends of Cuba Against the U.S. Blockade
– Vancouver and organiser with Vancouver
Communities in Solidarity with Cuba, at
the International meeting in solidarity with
Cuba.
Havana International Convention Center
Havana, Cuba
May 2, 2016
Thank you, I will try to speak in Spanish. It is
going to be a challenge for me and all of you
but we are fighters so we love challenges!
Thanks to all our Cuban comrades for orga-
nising this event and really for this opportun-
ity. It is very important for us fighters and
workers in all part of the world to be together
in a place like this to share our experiences
in the struggle.
My name is Azza, I am from Vancouver
[Canada], I work with Vancouver Com-
munities in Solidarity with Cuba and the
new group Friends of Cuba Against the U.S.
Blockade-Vancouver, previously known as
the Free the Cuban 5 Committee-Vancouver.
It was for the freedom of the Cuban 5 and
now that our 5 are here with us in this room,
we have changed our name and mandate. We
organise against the blockade and to demand
the return of Guantanamo to Cuba.
A lot of people here have many years of ex-
perience in working for the freedom of the 5
Cuban heroes and it is crucial that now we
use this experience to continue the struggle.
This is what we are trying to do in Vancou-
ver. We had 110 consecutive protests every
month for the Cuban 5 in front of the
U.S. consulate and now that the 5 are
here with us today, we are still there
in front of the U.S. consulate in Van-
couver every month against the U.S.
blockade. They don’t like it, the don’t
want it, but we are still there because
we have to fight for Cuba. We have to
fight for Cuba’s sovereignty because
Cuba fights for all of us! We heard
here from people from all part of the
world saying thank you to Cuba for
inspiring us, thank you to the Cuban
doctors for their great contributions
around the world. Cuba is a very im-
portant example for us in all parts of
the world.
Now, as I previously mentioned, in
Vancouver every month, every 17 of
the month, as compañera Kenia said, we are
in front of the U.S. consulate and we are very
very happy that our friends in Ottawa have
joined us. Now in Ottawa also every month
they are in front of the U.S. embassy in Can-
ada. This is very significant.
As Cuba is an example, in Vancouver we also
want to be an example for working together
for Cuba. This is very important also because
Vancouver is very close to the United States.
The border crossing is only 40 minutes
from Vancouver, we work together with our
friends in Seattle in the state of Washington.
They now come to our events in Vancouver
and we go to theirs in Seattle in Washing-
ton. This cooperation is key because in our
experience
is was what
was vital for
the victory of
the freedom
of the Cuban 5; unity,
cooperation,
consistency.
This three
are very essential to
use today to
continue the
struggle. So
I want to invite all the
international
delegations to join us in action every 17
th
of
the month, it doesn’t have to be a protest, it
can be writing letters, calling your local representative, calling the media, there are a lot
of options that exist that I think we can use
and we have the capacity to use in this fight
against the blockade and to have another victory!
Thanks to all our friends from ICAP and the
Communist Party of Cuba for showing all of
us around the world the example of Cuba, the
example that it will be possible if we work
hard and work together to change things, to
change the world and why not? We are here
for this! So we start by fighting for the sovereignty of Cuba, fighting against the illegal
occupation of Guantanamo, fighting against
the U.S. blockade.
If any of you have ideas, suggestions, if you
want to work closer with us in Vancouver, if
you want to connect with other organisations
around the world, this is the place to do so
and I invite you to come and talk to me.
All of us here need to exchange ideas, exchange experiences because together we can
win, together we can have more victories. I
think that the proof of that is here with us, it
is Gerardo, it is Fernando, it is our 5 heroes
here with us in Cuba. Their presence is our
continuity! It is very clear for me as a young
leader that there are victories, that the struggle has to continue, that change is possible.
¡Venceremos! We will win!
Follow Azza Rojbi on Twitter:
@Azza_R14
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