Supporters of Rock Around The Blockade are attending the 2023 Summit of the Peoples taking place in Brussels, Belgium from 17-18 July. The Summit is happening to coincide with the summit between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean states (CELAC) and the European Union. Many Cuba solidarity organisations and friends of Cuba will be attending the Summit of the Peoples to show their opposition to the US blockade of Cuba and promote friendship and solidarity between European people and Cubans.
Our comrades joined talks including on the impact of the US designation of Cuba as a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’, as well as a festival of solidarity at which representatives of Latin American states spoke such as the President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel, President of Bolivia Luis Arce, Vice President of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez and President of Colombia Gustavo Petro. Diaz-Canel stressed the necessity of resistance in all ways possible and stressed that denunciation does not go far enough. Petro pointed out that capitalism is inherently bad for the environment and that green capitalism does not exist.
We promoted the 1 Cent 4 Cuba (www.1c4cuba.eu) campaign as a practical means of challenging the US blockade for European solidarity organisations and individuals. Fernando Gonzalez, President of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples and one of the Cuban 5, stood with RATB activists to support the 1c4Cuba initiative.
A further report will follow on their return.