Dear Comrades:
We send you warm fraternal greetings on the occasion of the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, and the 60th anniversary of the declaration of the socialist character of the revolution.
We also send warm greetings to Comrade Raul Castro on this auspicious occasion, recognizing his central role in the revolutionary process and the building of socialism in Cuba in the most difficult conditions.
Cuba has been the shining light of socialism, humanism, peace and national liberation in the Americas for more than six decades, and it has become the glowing light of socialism for working people around the world for the last 30 years.
While imperialism – including Canadian imperialism – export arms and wage wars of aggression and regime change, Cuba exports teachers, doctors, medical teams and vaccines. The world’s peoples owe a great debt to the Cuban people and to the Communist Party of Cuba for their internationalism, their principled stand for peace, sovereignty and socialism in the Americas and around the world.
Canadian Communists will continue to demand an end to the 60 year old illegal US blockade that has caused such hardship to the Cuban economy and the people of Cuba. We will continue to demand an end to the illegal and insupportable US sanctions and designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism delivered by Donald Trump, the former President of a country that specializes in state terrorism, coup d’etats, torture and mass murder, in Guantanamo and other black sites around the world. Guantanamo must be closed and this territory returned to the people of Cuba from whom it was taken so many years ago. We will continue to press the Canadian government to fully re-open the Canadian Embassy in Havana and normalize diplomatic relations, trade, and tourism with Cuba, while also fighting for an independent Canadian foreign policy of peace and disarmament in the coming federal election, and a trade policy that is multi-lateral and mutually beneficial. Canada must move sharply away from US foreign policy and from NATO and NORAD, which are military pacts of war and nuclear war.
Finally Comrades, we wish you every success in this important Congress, and we also wish Comrade Raul Castro the rest and relaxation he should enjoy after many decades of work on behalf of the people of Cuba and the working people of the Americas, and the world.
Long live proletarian internationalism!
Long live socialism!
Yours in the Struggle,
Elizabeth Rowley, Leader
Central Executive Committee