XVII May First Brigade
Havana, April 29 (RHC) Convened by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), the XVII Brigade of Solidarity and Voluntary Work May 1, and the Canadian Ernesto Che Guevara bring together more than 280 friends from 24 nations to date. Next May 7th.
One of the young members of the May 1 Brigade, young María Alejandra Rincón, spoke with Prensa Latina at the Brigade’s headquarters, the Julio Antonio Mella international camp, located in the western province of Artemisa.
The North American activist recalled the events of June 2023, when she was detained in Washington, while trying to meet with Senator Robert Menéndez, to denounce anti-Cuban policies.
She was accompanied by three other friends from solidarity movements with Cuba in the United States, including Gail Walker, executive director of the interreligious organization Pastors for Peace (IFCO) and who introduced her to solidarity actions with Cuba, she noted.
“We had many meetings with different Cuban-American and Democratic congressmen and we went to Menéndez’s office because he supports the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba,” said the social worker from the city of Charlottesville, in the state of Virginia. .
We also knew that Menéndez dealt with international relations and represented the Democratic Party (the same as Barack Obama and Joe Biden), he indicated.
He recalled that when requesting the interview they were first told that the senator did not have time and could not attend to them; so they asked to wait for him; but were required to leave the office.
They refused to leave until the meeting was held, while holding signs with phrases such as: “Cuba, yes! Menéndez, no!”, “Menéndez, long live Cuba!”, and “Down with the Blockade.”
“As American citizens we felt it was our right to speak with the senator about international politics,” Rincón noted.
So, the office staff called 911 and they were detained and handcuffed by the police, after being denied a meeting with Menéndez.
“They held us in jail for several hours, they interrogated us incisively, took fingerprints, photographs and wanted to charge us like common criminals,” he said.
The young woman of Colombian origin, only 28 years old, confessed that she always gets excited when talking about Cuba, because of the beauty of its people and its revolutionary project, and added that the Caribbean nation is a great example of what is possible for the world. .
He also distinguished the achievements of the Cuban project: “incredible for a small country, under the blockade of the largest and most powerful nation in the world.”
He warned that the United States government does not want people to learn about the reality and achievements of Cuba and, in turn, the effects of the blockade, which he described as a genocidal policy.
Rincón revealed that since his first visit to Cuba in 2023 he felt another vibe, a feeling that he had never experienced.
“I felt safe; “The people are very kind and what they have achieved here is what I want in my country,” she stated. (Source:PL)
