United Nations
Solidarity in New York with
Cuban delegation



NEW YORK (21 September 2006) -THE Cuban delegation participating in the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly, led by Vice President of the Council of State Esteban Lazo Hernández, was warmly received with messages of solidarity in an enthusiastic public welcome in the historically Black community of Harlem.

"We know that this neighborhood is the cradle of solidarity with the Cuban revolution," said Lazo, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba, referring to the welcome that the people of Harlem gave President Fidel Castro in September 1960 in response to the hostility surrounding his first visit to the United Nations.

During the solidarity event at the Church of the Intercession that attracted an overflow crowd, Reverend Lucius Walker, executive director of the Pastors for Peace organization, said that Cuba deserves gratitude.

"We thank Cuba for the doctors and specialists that it was willing to send to the aid of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, an offer that the Bush government did not accept," he said.

Walker also expressed his thanks for the 110 young medical students from the United States studying in Cuba without charge.

In her turn, Heidi Bogosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, highlighted the case of the Cuban Five, unjustly incarcerated in U.S. prisons because of their activities to prevent acts of terrorism.

The crowd of supporters burst into cheers when Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque said that President Fidel Castro was in full recovery.

In his turn, Vice President Esteban Lazo qualified as immoral the prison terms handed down to the five Cuban patriots and noted that it is further evidence of the U.S. imperialist government's hatred of the Cuban Revolution.

During the solidarity event, Lazo was approached by a group of young people who wanted to send greetings to Fidel for his 80th birthday.

The occasion was an opportunity for the member of the Political Bureau to recount the political trajectory of President Fidel Castro. "The first to be in the trenches is Fidel," Lazo said to applause, PL reported. (Granma newspaper)
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