Friends of Cuba Ratify Willingness to Continue Their Struggle for The Five

_ By Yamylé Fernández Rodríguez/ Radio Cadena Agramonte.
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[Friends of Cuba Ratify Willingness to Continue Their Struggle for The Five.] Geraldo Vivanco and his wife Josée Bellamare arrived in Cuba some days ago from Quebec province (Canada), to take part in the 7th International Colloquium for the Release of the Cuban Five and against Terrorism recently held in Holguin, an eastern Cuban province located approximately 750 kilometers from Havana.

The colloquium was attended by some 300 delegates coming from 48 different countries, and among them were Geraldo and Josée, who left the meeting with new ideas on how to continue the struggle for the absolute release of the five Cuban anti-terrorists imprisoned in the United States since 1998 for attempting to uncover plots against Cuba by Miami-based terrorist organizations.

“I was most impressed by young people's involvement in this event. Especially, there were five university students coming from Quebec that visited workplaces and schools in Holguin so as to learn about the Cuban people's reality.

“They decided to call themselves Les Cinq pour Les Cinq du Québec (The Five for the Five in Quebec) and we are sure that they are going to do a lot for this cause in that Canadian province. That's why we are stronger now”, said Geraldo, who is a member of the Quebec-Cuba Solidarity Roundtable, and along with his wife is now visiting the city of Camagüey.

Geraldo claims that the release of the five Cuban patriots can no longer be delayed, especially because it is an issue of humanitarian interest. “We must convey this message to U.S. President Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize winner, because some of the Cuban Five’s mothers still hold out hope that their children will come back soon.

This man of Chilean origin, who has been living in Canada for 25 years, is a fervent admirer of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and late ousted Chilean president Salvador Allende. In Quebec, he participates in discussions, both spoken in Spanish and French, in which they praise the values of the Cuban Revolution.

According to Geraldo, the solidarity groups in Quebec give no opportunity to mass media to distort the Cuban reality. Besides, many of the Canadian tourists that travel to Cuba are from this province.

“A few months ago, Radio Canada International broadcast a piece of information about the Cuban Five. The country’s mainstream media had remained silent on this issue, but all solidarity groups insisted so hard that we could transmit a three-minute story in that important radio station”, he stated.

This friend of Cuba and his wife work in Radio Centre-Ville, which airs in different languages the show Cuban Dimension, aimed at defending the cultural values of the island nation and exposing the social gains of the Cuban Revolution.

“The audience has to realize that things are not exactly as they are televised in my country. For many people, the Cuban Revolution took place over 50 years ago, but they don’t know that this is a non-stop process that constantly renews itself and adapts to historic changes. For me, this is the most important thing, and we have to stress so in our program, since few people know about it there”, said Josée Bellamare.

“Camagüey’s culture is amazing - she adds. I’ve been impressed for seeing so much art even on the streets, and we had the privilege of meeting celebrated local artists like Martha Jiménez, Ileana Sánchez and Joel Jover. This has been great”.

When asked if they are willing to come back, they both answered: “You can take that for grated”. Geraldo and Josée are making plans to return in two years on February 2nd for the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the former Spanish village of Santa Maria del Puerto del Principe, today Camagüey. (Translated by Jennifer Rodriguez)

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