http://themilitant.com/2015/7925/792520.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 79/No. 25 July 20, 2015
(editorial)
Build on revolutionary Cuba’s victory
When Cuban President Raúl Castro and President Barack Obama announced
talks toward normalizing relations last December and the remaining three
of the Cuban Five were released, it represented one of the most
important victories for the international working class in decades. It
registered what had been won by the resilience and principled positions
of the Cuban revolutionaries — in Cuba, Latin America and Africa.
The response in Cuba was joy, confidence and pride. One expression was
the May Day celebrations with 1 million people in the streets of Havana.
Working people in Cuba haven’t scored a victory like this since the
defeat of South Africa’s apartheid army in Angola at the end of the
1980s that opened the door for the independence of Namibia and the
dismantling of the racist regime in South Africa. The Cuban Revolution
comes out stronger, with the possibility to loosen the noose of
Washington’s economic warfare for the first time in decades.
The Cuban leadership is determined to continue the struggle, to assure
the sovereignty, independence and continued defense of the socialist
revolution. Cuba doesn’t negotiate principles. No process would start
with any of the Cuban Five in jail. No talks would continue with
Washington threatening sanctions on Venezuela. Obama blinked and backed
off.
“We never felt alone,” Gerardo Hernández of the Cuban Five said during
their recent visit to South Africa. “We know that the Cuban Revolution
never leaves a soldier behind.”
The victory reaches far beyond Cuba’s shores.
It’s a victory that strengthens new generations of revolutionary
leadership.
It’s a victory for the anti-imperialist struggle in Latin America and
the Caribbean against Washington’s domination, especially in Venezuela.
It’s a victory for those fighting to free framed-up Puerto Rican
independence fighter Oscar López and end Washington’s colonial rule.
It’s a victory for the working class in the U.S. and beyond — getting
working-class revolutionary fighters out of prison by building the “jury
of millions.”
President Obama recognized the failure of the U.S. rulers’ course over
the last 50 years and said something else has to be tried to overthrow
Cuba’s socialist revolution.
“We’ll do this at our pace,” Castro said. There is no normalization
without the ending of the embargo and the return to Cuba of the
Guantánamo base.
Working people in Cuba and worldwide can build on this victory and
living record of internationalism.
End the embargo on Cuba! U.S. imperialism — Out of Guantánamo!
Free Oscar López! Independence for Puerto Rico!
Related articles:
In victory for revolution, Cuba, US to open embassies
Relations require ‘respect for independence and sovereignty’
Cuban 5 in South Africa: ‘We are soldiers of revolution’
Cuba helps push back Washington’s attacks on Venezuela
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