Reflections on Fidel Castro’s Internationalism in Cuba on ICAP’s 65th Anniversary

By Iliana García Giraldino
December 29, 2024
Reprinted from: Siempre con Cuba
translation: Resumen Latinoamericano – English

Some 240 activists and representatives of solidarity organizations and movements with Cuba from 32 countries highlighted today the internationalist thought and action of the historical leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro.

Gathered at the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), the participants reflected on the legacy of the institution’s founder, which will celebrate its 65th anniversary on December 30th, having promoted and coordinated international support for the causes of the world’s peoples.

Speaking on the panel, René González, director of the Fidel Castro Ruz Center, emphasized that Cuba’s commitment to solidarity arose and was strengthened in the struggles of Latin America and Cuba for independence, with the participation, commitment and solidarity of Latin American patriots in those struggles.

_{ICAP President Fernando Gonzalez Llort}

These values, González pointed out, are part of the humanist essence of the Cuban Revolution, which drew on the thought of Cuba’s National Hero José Martí and the ideology of Fidel Castro, who stated that “To be an internationalist is to repay our own debt to humanity.”

For her part, the center’s deputy director, Sissy Abay, recalled that Cuban solidarity was expressed from the very first moments of the revolutionary triumph on January 1, 1959, through concrete actions in various parts of the world, and today Cuba is a recipient of that support.

According to the president of ICAP, Fernando González, solidarity is a fundamental pillar of Fidel Castro’s thought and action, and is understood here as a human duty and an unrenounceable principle of the Revolution, which continues to manifest itself in a practical and consistent internationalism.

At the event, representatives of solidarity organizations and movements from the United States, Australia, Europe, Asia, and several Latin American nations presented the actions they are taking to support

Cuba in the face of its complex economic situation and the unprecedented intensification of the blockade and U.S. aggression.

Medal recipients that included Rosemari Mealy, Ed Newman, Cheryl Labash, Nesbit Crutchfield, Onye Sanwu and 17 others.

President Miguel Diaz Canel

The President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, attended the main and final event on Monday afternoon During Monday’s ceremony, where he presented the commemorative seal for ICAP’s 65th anniversary to international solidarity movements with Cuba, including the Cuba-Italy National Association, the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity of the Peoples, the Brazilian Movement of Solidarity with Cuba, and the Antonio Maceo Brigade.

Once again the keynote speaker was ICAP president Fernando González Llort, who stated that “65 years after that December 30, 1960, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples not only endures, but is renewed in fulfilling the same mission for which it was conceived: to build bridges, unite wills, and cultivate peace, friendship, and solidarity among peoples.”

He emphasized that ICAP has been “a witness to and active participant in the history of the Cuban Revolution: welcoming people from all over the world interested in learning about the transformations driven by the revolutionary process; encouraging the creation of solidarity committees with Cuba on all five continents; hosting important events; and promoting, from within our society, Cuba’s support for the just causes of the world’s peoples.”
He recalled that for 65 years the Institute has marched alongside “the unwavering support of a solidarity movement that has grown immensely in the most difficult moments: in the defense of Cuba’s right to be a free, independent, and sovereign country, in the denunciation of hostility and aggression against our country.”

Click for a short video of yesterday’s event. 

Photos: Bill Hackwell