Protests call for 'hands off' Venezuela, Cuba

Washington

In countries around the world, demonstrations were held on May 20 to demand an end to US aggression against Cuba and Venezuela. Protesters called for an end to Washington's economic embargo against Cuba and for freedom for the Cuban Five, political prisoners held in US jails. They also demanded the extradition of CIA-backed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, to Venezuela to face charges relating to a 1976 airline bombing, and an end to US hostility towards Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution, led by that country's socialist president, Hugo Chavez.

In the US, protests were held in Washington DC, Los Angeles and Miami. According to Workers World, as well as in the US and Australia, there were solidarity events in Brazil, Spain, Russia, France, Austria, Colombia, Ecuador, the Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan and the Chuvashia Republic.

A message by Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban National Assembly, read out at the Washington DC protest said: "We appreciate your solidarity in our struggle for independence and justice in the face of the imperialist aggression that our people have been resisting, heroically and successfully for over 47 years. In spite of the economic blockade our people [have] advanced dramatically in building a new and better society and [by] cooperating closely with our brothers and sisters in Venezuela we are helping many others in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia to improve their lives."

From Green Left Weekly, May 31, 2006.

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From GLW issue 669