Students Respond To US Provocations

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ABOUT 5,000 students, mostly from university, and youth participating in the Revolution's programs condemned US policy against the island, namely the latest provocations from the US Interests Section, which represents Washington's interests in Havana.

The event was held at the Josi Martn Anti- Imperialist Tribune, across from the US Interests Section in Havana (USIS). Several speakers rejected 'the most recent act of interference by the George W. Bush administration.'

Among other provocations, they were referring to the illuminated circle containing the number 75, put up on December 6 together with other Christmas decorations in the gardens of the diplomatic headquarters. The sign refers to the 75 individuals detained by the national authorities last year. Cuba proved that this group was engaging in activities jeopardizing state security with the financial and material support of the US government and thus charged the individuals involved in these activities as mercenaries.

After James Cason, the USIS head, ignored two diplomatic notes protesting the provocation, the Cuban government set up a billboard denouncing the US torture of prisoners of war, facing the 75 sign.

The December 20 event celebrating the 82nd anniversary of the Federation of University Students (FEU) was also attended by several members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Among them, Vice President Carlos Lage, Ricardo Alarcon, president of the National Assembly of People's Power; Abel Prieto, minister of culture; and the minister of education and higher education, Luis Ignacio Gomez and Fernando Vecino.

Obviously, Mr. Cason does not know Cuban history and the fulfilled desire of Josi Martn that the first law of our Republic was the culture of people's full dignity, stated Patricia Flechilla, a junior high school student.

Freddy Fernandez, leader of the Federation of Students in Intermediate Education, recalled US crimes in countries such as Iraq, and accused Cason of being a false diplomat because of the subversive and destabilizing activities he carries out in Cuba.

Lisandra Montero, a student teacher, pointed out that behind the US provocations, threats, and aggressions there is a deep fear of the example the Cuban Revolution represents for the rest of the world.

'Every machination of the Northern power makes us prouder and stronger,' Carlos Lage Codorni?, FEU president at the University of Havana, underlined.

FEU President Joan Cabo pointed out that if the United States attacks the island, it will find legions of youth ready to become heroes or martyrs in defense of the achievements of generations of Cubans who made today's nation possible.

'Washington does not have the moral or legal authority to condemn Cuba,' stated Hassan Pirez, second secretary of the National Committee of the Young Communist League. 'With our achievements in health, education, culture, and the social sector in general, we are the ones who have much to show to those who are today slandering and threatening us,' he observed.

Some of the most popular musical groups and dance companies from the island performed at the 82nd anniversary of the FEU.

The FEU was founded on December 20, 1922 at the proposal of the anti- imperialist leader Julio Antonio Mella, who became a co-founder of the Cuban Communist Party three years later.



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