Havana, October 15 (RHC) — Thousands of Havana residents, led by Miguel Díaz-Canel, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, staged a march on Monday in solidarity with the peoples of Palestine and Lebanon who are suffering genocide by Zionist forces.

The route between the Fragua Martiana and the Anti-Imperialist Tribune, on the Malecón, was marked by signs, songs, slogans and a large human flag of Palestine, a symbol of the lives massacred by the State of Israel, among other initiatives with which Cubans reiterated their call for an immediate end to the escalation of violence unleashed in the Middle East.

Meyvis Estévez Echeverría, first secretary of the National Committee of the Union of Young Communists (UJC), said that the crime that has so far taken the lives of more than 40 thousand people and entire families buried under irrational hatred cannot be erased from memory.

She condemned the hypocrisy of U.S. imperialism that acts as an accomplice to barbarism of such proportions and considers itself morally superior to keep Cuba on its list of supposed state sponsors of terrorism.

“From this island we defend the right of the Palestinians and of all the peoples of the world to live with dignity and we reaffirm the political will and commitment of the Cuban State to peace, cooperation and respect for the sovereignty of nations,” added the youth leader.During the event, which was attended by the country’s top leadership, Palestinian students also spoke, expressing through their art and oratory their desire not to renounce their homeland and their infinite gratitude to Cuba.

Omayma Alkhawaga, a Palestinian doctor who graduated on the island, agreed with these positions and emphasized that the solidarity of the Caribbean nation is unparalleled in the world.

“Once again, Cubans have risen to support a just cause, as they have done in the past with so many others, and to raise the message that Palestine is not alone,” she concluded. (Source: ACN)

Caracas, October 15 (RHC)– The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, on his program “Con Maduro+”, expressed his support for the countries of the Caribbean, in its demand that London recognize and pay for the historic reparations due to the peoples and communities who were displaced from Africa, through torture and kidnapping.

The Venezuelan head of state also announced that Venezuela will submit a claim to Spain.  “Venezuela will activate a legal claim for Spain to answer for the theft and looting of our lands.”

“The people seek justice and recognition for the horrors of the past and represent a joint effort by the Caribbean nations to obtain reparations for the historical crimes committed during slavery,” said President Maduro.

So far, a total of 15 Caribbean governments have agreed to ask the UK for billions of pounds as compensation for the slave trade.

A report by the University of the West Indies, published following a symposium by the American Society for International Law, concludes that the United Kingdom must pay $24 billion (£18.8 billion) in reparations for transatlantic slavery in 14 countries.  Of this amount, about $9.6 billion is for Jamaica, according to the National Commission on African-American Reparations.

In related news, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley, declared during the celebrations for emancipation from slavery last summer that when nations come together in Samoa “Caribbean leaders will speak very strongly to the Commonwealth as one voice.  And there is one country in particular with a new King and a Labour government with an outstanding term.”

Havana, October 15 (RHC) — Cuba maintains its support for the cause of the people of Palestine in the face of the genocide of the Zionist government of Israel, which today expands its attacks to the entire region and affects nations such as Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

This historic position of the Caribbean island in the face of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was supported on Monday before in a solidarity mobilization called by the Union of Young Communists, in which President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other senior leaders of the country participated along with around 60,000 young people.

From the Anti-imperialist Tribune of Havana, destination of the march that began in the Fragua Martiana, the first secretary of the Union of Young Communists of Cuba, Meyvis Estévez, affirmed that each crime of the Zionist army also kills the shame of humanity.

The genocide, he said, is the full responsibility of Israel and the United States, which provides military, logistical and political support to barbarism, and causes panic in an entire population, also using hunger and thirst as weapons of mass destruction.

He pointed out that this march and the mobilizations carried out throughout the country in recent days support the position of this Caribbean nation alongside the Palestinian people, whom he described as an impressive example of self-denial and patriotism.

In the midst of material difficulties, in the midst of the bloodiest blockade suffered by our people, we Cubans have decided to fill these streets because no one can hide the true essence of the Yankee empire, because we will not close our eyes to colonization, suffering and massacre, he pointed out.

Palestinian students in Cuba also expressed the will of their compatriots to resist until they recover their nation, achieve their inalienable rights and a just and lasting peace.

They denounced the expansionist interests of the State of Israel against nations of the Middle East, with the complicity of the United States, while the world remains paralyzed, unable to stop the tragedy.

It is not a war, it is a widespread and progressive genocide, they condemned at the political-cultural event, in which they expressed their gratitude to Cuba for its permanent solidarity with the just cause of the Palestinian people.   (Source: Prensa Latina)