The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) denounces the latest act of terrorism against the Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC, on the evening of September 24, when two Molotov cocktails were hurled at the building. The U.S. government has not condemned that attack or the previous one which took place on April 30, 2020 when a Cuban expatriate living in the U.S. sprayed the front of the embassy building with over 30 rounds using an AK-47 assault rifle. Fortunately the damage from the recent attack was minor and no personnel were injured. So too, it is by chance that no-one was injured in the previous attack either which could well have resulted in deaths, as the perpetrator admitted to law enforcement was his intention.

So long as the perpetrators are no punished and the government does not take appropriate measures to deal with such crimes, they foster a modus operandi. In this vein, in the early morning hours of July 27, 2021, three incendiary devices were thrown at the Cuban Embassy in Paris. Two of the "Molotov cocktails" hit the facade and entrance of the building. Embassy personnel were able to put out a fire that had started and there were no injuries. Families with children were inside the building at the time of the attack.

CPC(M-L) also decries Canada's silence about these attacks and its conciliatory approach to the actions of hooligan elements in Canada and their benefactors from Miami who do their best to incite social violence in Cuba and Canada and then, when Cuba defends peace and acts according to rule of law, spread smear campaigns are spread about Cuba's alleged violation of human rights, lack of democracy and democratic rule of law.

These counter-revolutionary elements have utterly failed over the course of 60 years to achieve regime change in Cuba. With the backing of the U.S. administration, they are making ever more frenetic attempts to stir counterrevolutionary rebellion within Cuba and against Cuba abroad. But the people reject their brutal methods which include using the difficulties the people face as a result of the U.S. blockade to incite opposition to the government. The allegedly peaceful protestors are incited, funded and used by the U.S. and the disturbances have nothing to do with a political movement against the government.

CPC(M-L) calls on Canadians to hold the U.S. government responsible for all these acts of counterrevolution and terrorism and to condemn Canada's appeasement of state terror when it comes to using it against Cuba. Canadians should call on Canada and its media, academics and pundits to disassociate themselves with the acts of hooliganism, terrorism and violence against Cuba. Canada should stop condoning these attacks by claiming they are political when nothing but filthy trash talk comes out of the mouths of the allegedly peaceful protestors. The nonsense that Cuba is totalitarian and authoritarian to then claim the U.S., Canada and others are democratic should stop. It is to divert attention away from who is responsible for the violence in Cuba and to undermine the opposition to the U.S. blockade of Cuba and support for Cuba which is widespread in Canada. Canada should also take action against the use of Canadian territory for purposes of enforcing the illegal blockade and for spreading calumnies against Cuba.

For the U.S. to tighten the blockade at this time as well as its listing of Cuba as a state which sponsors terrorism, is for purposes of inciting violence in the hopes of achieving regime change. The fact that it considers the people of Cuba dispensable is ample proof of what U.S. democracy and human rights stand for.

CPC(M-L) denounces the Biden administration for spreading lies and disinformation for the purpose of demonizing Cuba's leadership and the supporters of revolutionary Cuba, and inciting counterrevolutionary elements to engage in violent acts like those which the people of Cuba thwarted in Havana on July 11, 2021. It calls on the Canadian government to take no part in such vile activity and instead demand that the U.S. end its criminal economic war against Cuba. The Cuban people must be allowed to solve their problems on their own without outside interference or threats, something they are more than capable of doing.

Victims of State Terrorism Day in Cuba – October 6, 1976
Furthermore, this October 6 marks the 47th anniversary of the bombing of Air Cubana Flight 455 by U.S.-backed anti-Cuba terrorists. This heinous act of terrorism was one of many carried out against Cuba with U.S. backing from the 1960s to the 1990s and since then. In 2010, Cuba began to commemorate this date as the "Victims of State Terrorism Day." On this day, Cuba commemorates its 3,478 citizens who have died and 2,099 who have been permanently disabled by acts of terrorism, a total of 5,577 victims. These figures do not include victims from other countries, including Canada, killed or injured during terrorist attacks aimed at Cuba.

On this solemn occasion, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) sends deepest condolences to the Cuban people and all victims of these attacks. It stands with the Cuban people and their revolution in opposing terrorism, the use of force as well as "coercive diplomacy" to sort out differences and problems between nations and peoples. It pledges to continue working to support friendly relations between all countries based on mutual respect and benefit and the upholding of the rule of international law as established by the UN Charter.

The anniversary of the bombing of Air Cubana Flight 455 and silence about the terrorist assaults on Cuba's embassy in Washington, D.C. are timely reminders to Canadians and Quebeckers of the need to end Canada's appeasement of U.S. imperialism and state terrorism and ensure that Canada is a zone of peace, with its own independent foreign policy that upholds the rule of international law. This includes standing up for Cuba's right to be, free from outside interference, terrorism and all forms of aggression, including the unjust U.S. blockade

CPC(M-L) reiterates its condemnation of the U.S. blockade of Cuba, which is both illegal and internationally condemned. The blockade profoundly violates the human rights of the Cuban people and is carried out with the same vicious aim of causing death and destruction as the bombing of Air Cubana Flight 455. CPC(M-L) also condemns the U.S. government for putting Cuba back on its spurious "state sponsors of terrorism" list, citing Cuba's support for the Venezuelan people and their affirmation of their right to be through the Bolivarian Revolution as support for "terrorism." It calls on everyone to take part in the campaign to put one million signatures behind the demand that the U.S. take Cuba on this list now. Join the campaign here: LetCubaLive.info.

Statement of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba

During the night of September 24, 2023, a terrorist attack occurred against the premises of the Cuban Embassy in the United States, when an individual threw two Molotov cocktails from the sidewalk over the perimeter fence of the facility, which hit the front wall of that diplomatic mission. There were no injuries to the personnel who were present at that headquarters. At the request of the Cuban diplomatic mission, officers of the United States Secret Service arrived at the building and had access to its facilities to verify the violent action perpetrated.

Anti-Cuban groups resort to terrorism due to the moral bankruptcy of their hatred against Cuba and the impunity they believe they enjoy. On a regular basis, in the official exchanges between the Embassy and the Department of State, we have warned that the permissive behavior of United States law enforcement agencies in the face of violent actions can encourage the commission of acts of this nature.

It is the second violent attack against the diplomatic headquarters in Washington, since April 2020. On the night of that day, an individual of Cuban origin, standing in the middle of the street in the US capital and using an assault rifle, fired a burst of thirty cartridges against the building. Fortunately, there was no damage to the personnel inside the property on that occasion, but there was considerable material damage.

After three years, the perpetrator still awaits trial and the United States government has refused to classify the incident as a terrorist act.

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations requires the United States, as a receiving country, to take all appropriate measures to protect the premises of the mission against intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns this terrorist action and hopes that the United States Government will act in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, in the interest of avoiding the repetition of these events.

The Ministry warns once again about the message that is being conveyed regarding the attitude of the US government in the face of threats of this type against the Cuban diplomatic headquarters, but also against those of other countries in the city of Washington D.C.

It also warns against the double standards used by the US government's supposed commitment against terrorism.

(Cubaminrex, September 25, 2023)

Attack on U.S. Embassy Proves That Cuba Is a Victim of Terrorism

– Prensa Latina –

Remnants of the two Molotov cocktails thrown at the Cuban Embassy in
Washington, DC, September 24, 2023.

The recent attack against the Cuban embassy in the United States is today a reminder to the world that the Caribbean country is a victim of terrorism and has been so for a long time.

This is what the head of the Cuban Mission in this capital, Lianys Torres, warned when speaking with Prensa Latina about the events of September 24, which generated a broad rejection here from various sectors.

The Cuban diplomat said that what happened also reflects "a permissive behavior of the law enforcement authorities of this country, which have been the site of two terrorist acts against our Embassy in Washington D.C., since 2020, that is to say, it is not just something from the past".

One wonders," said Torres, "how is it possible that so close to the White House, such acts are committed and that the U.S. law enforcement authorities could not foresee an attack with an AK-47 assault weapon in 2020 and now an attack with two Molotov cocktails.

He stressed that this unfortunate event, "in which fortunately no casualties were claimed, although they could have been, serves as a reminder of the double standard of the U.S. Government in making repeated allusions to its commitment against terrorism.

However -- he added -- it allows constant calls to be made from its territory through social networks to commit violent acts against representatives of the Cuban authorities, both in Cuba and abroad, even with promises of monetary rewards.

"All this is public and no action is taken against these people who make these calls," Torres sentenced.

The head of Mission also considered that the recent attack "demonstrates impotence, immorality and hatred of anti-Cubans and fascists who carry out these acts, promote them and justify them".

To a question on whether there is any update on the case, Torres commented that the information available is the same that was already disclosed.

"An individual threw from the sidewalk two Molotov cocktails over the perimeter fence of the facility, which hit the front wall of that diplomatic mission. No damage was caused to the personnel at the headquarters," he reiterated.

At the request of the Cuban diplomatic mission, officers of the U.S. Secret Service went to the headquarters and had access to its facilities to verify the violent action perpetrated, he added.

"We have shared with Secret Service authorities specific details of the event and we hope that they will provide us with an answer as to the identity, motives and triggers of the perpetrator," the diplomat said.

Regarding the attack of April 30, 2020 against the Cuban embassy building, Torres affirmed that it is only known that, "after three years, the attacker of the Embassy is still awaiting trial and the U.S. Government has not qualified the event as a terrorist act."

When the reporter mentioned the successful visit of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel to New York, the Chief of Mission confirmed that "he was received with respect both in the events he participated in at the United Nations and in the activities with various groups and counterparts in the United States".

The truth of Cuba and its leadership in defense of the aspirations of the peoples of the global south was once again demonstrated, she added, confirming that the president "carried out a successful program at the UN, in which he served as president pro tempore of the G77 and China, an organization belonging to the UN and representing two thirds of the world's population".

In addition, he held meetings with leaders of several countries, who all clamored in unison their desire for the United States to put an end to the blockade against Cuba, he pointed out.

"In New York," he concluded, "our president and our people received the support, respect and solidarity of the American people with numerous demonstrations of affection and friendship."

(September 27, 2023. Photos: Minrex)

Join the Campaign to Get Cuba Off the U.S. List of State Sponsors of Terrorism!

The worldwide campaign to get Cuba off the U.S. List of State Sponsors of Terrorism is well underway. As of September 30, there are 363,169 signatures on a petition addressed to U.S. President Joe Biden, out of the goal of 1 million. The organizers explain:

"For more than 60 years, the US government has pursued a hostile policy against Cuba with the clear political intent to isolate the Cuban people through a cruel and inhumane blockade.

"In the midst of the pandemic, the Trump administration sought to further damage the Cuban economy not only by reinforcing the blockade with 243 new sanctions, but also by including Cuba on the of State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

"This designation makes it much harder for Cuba to make transactions using international banking systems and acquire necessary goods on the international market, such as fuel, food, construction supplies, hygiene products, and medicine.

"We want to reach more than one million signatures to demand that the current U.S. government remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list and unconditionally end the blockade, which is rejected by the entire international community.

"We will deliver signed petitions to the White House on December 8, 2023."

All peace- and justice loving people who support Cuba's right to be are encouraged to sign and mobilize others to sign, by sharing the campaign online or by printing out the petition and getting signatures in your communities. Visit LetCubaLive.info to sign, share and print the petition.

Statements

Canadian Network on Cuba

The Canadian Network on Cuba condemns the attack on the Cuban Embassy in Washington that took place under the cover of night on Sunday, September 24, 2023. This attack is clearly a response by reactionary forces frustrated by the recent successes of the Cuban government in building international solidarity against the twin evils of colonialism and imperialism.

The attack comes directly on the heels of the visit of Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez to New York City for the United Nations General Assembly. The Cuban President was greeted in the United States enthusiastically by adoring crowds, who see the Cuban leader as a representative of the righteous struggle against a unipolar world. The visit to New York included a stop at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Center in Harlem, powerfully invoking the spirit of Fidel's visit to Hotel Theresa in 1960 and reaffirming the natural solidarity between those oppressed by their own imperialist governments at home and those who suffer by the same governments abroad. Diaz-Canel's speech at the UNGA pointed out the hypocrisy of so-called developed states in their suppression of the peoples of Asia, Afria and Latin America and reiterated the articles of the Havana declaration, released by participating nations of the G77 plus China the week prior. The G77 plus China meetings took place in the Cuban capital over September 15th and at 16th, representing 80% of the world's population. These meetings were another example of the central role that Cuba is playing in paving a new path forward for the planet and its peoples.

This is the second terrorist attack on the Cuban embassy in recent years. The exterior walls of the embassy still show the bullet holes of a terrorist attack perpetrated in 2020. We cannot forget that these attacks are made possible by the safe haven offered to far-right terrorists in the United States by the U.S. government. Terrorism against Cuba has been financed and sponsored by the U.S. government agencies since the sixties to punish Cuba for its quest for self-determination. Successive U.S. governments have carried out inhumane and illegal actions against the heroic people of Cuba with the express goal of causing misery and discontent in the Cuban families.

We demand that Cuba be excluded from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, a political manipulation of the U.S. government to inflict more harm on the Cuban people.

It is essential that the U.S. take the occasion to admit the commission of both terrorist acts in their nation's capital and bring the terrorists to justice.

Samantha Hislop
Julio Fonseca
Co-Chairs, Canadian Network on Cuba

(September 25, 2023)

Table de concertation de solidarité Québec-Cuba

Last Monday, dark forces hurled two incendiary cocktails at the Cuban embassy in Washington, D.C., just after the Cuban President's visit to the UN and a visit to the Bronx to pay tribute to Malcolm X, a black leader who stood in solidarity with Cuba.

These reactionaries continue to hate Cuba. By attacking the embassy with terrorist methods, they are showing their true face as counter-revolutionaries. This country, which is honourably fighting a vile blockade by the United States, has always had the greatest respect for methods of persuasion rather than terror. In order to discredit Cuba, attempts are being made to attack its legal institutions, which have been accepted by the international community. This is a despicable way of opposing the government of this small country, which sends doctors rather than bombs around the world.

These methods, which must be denounced loud and clear by the international community, rather discredit opponents of the Cuban government and disqualify them from the widely accepted rules of elementary democracy. They show the anger that a dignified people can arouse in the extreme right in the USA who want to do battle with them.

Supporting their government, the Cuban people can only condemn the targeting of their country's representatives by terrorists. The integrity of embassies is guaranteed by international law and the conventions governing relations between countries.

The United States must take all measures to ensure that these rules are respected on its territory. We cannot invoke international relations based on rules all over the planet and at the same time allow them to be violated on our own territory, in contravention of established customs.

If the US far right wants to fight the US government, Cuban diplomats don't have to pay the price. It's up to the U.S. government to stand up to the threat to the rules and customs of international law, and to subdue its extremists.

We call on the Canadian government to cooperate fully with the U.S. government to identify the perpetrators of this attack and others in the past, and to prevent the entry into Canada of individuals associated with them. We recall that in the past the diplomatic corps of the Republic of Cuba in Montreal suffered a similar attack on April 4, 1972, resulting in the death of diplomat Sergio Perez Castillo, presumably the work of one of the many anti-Castro groups operating out of Miami, according to the police report. (ref. Notre mémoire collective, Explosion fatale et incident diplomatique, boulevard Crémazie est, by Robert Côté, O.C., retired chief inspector and member of the Musée de la police)

(September 27, 2023. Translated from original French by TML.)

Ottawa Cuba Connections and l'Association d'amitié Outaouais-Cuba

We vigorously condemn the most recent terrorist attack on Sunday evening September 24 against the Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC, where two Molotov cocktails were hurled at the embassy building. Luckily, no one was injured, but no members of a diplomatic personnel should have to endure such threats to their well-being and to their very lives.

The 1961 Vienna Convention stipulates that embassy premises are inviolable, and that the receiving State is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusions or damage, and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.

What measures were taken by governments to reinforce this convention in light of the April 2020 attack against the embassy building when multiple rounds of bullets were fired from an AK-47 assault rifle? Cuba informs us that since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, 581 such attacks have taken place against the country's diplomatic representation abroad, killing approximately 365 people and injuring 721, including foreign nationals. This shows the utter perversity and hypocrisy of keeping Cuba on a U.S. list of State sponsors of terrorism, as Cuba itself has, over the years, constantly been the target of such acts of terrorism.

In this regard, October 6 will mark the solemn 47th anniversary of the mid-flight terrorist explosion of Cubana Airline's flight 455 over the Caribbean Sea, killing 73 people, including 24 teenage Cuban athletes, members of Cuba's national fencing team. At that time, the two main masterminds of the attack were taken under the U.S. government's wing and were never held accountable for their crimes.

In the same vein, the ongoing campaign of disinformation and slanders today against Cuba is egging on such criminal, anti-Cuban and anti-people elements, as they feel they have the go-ahead to say and do anything, no matter how vile or dangerous, empowered by that very same sense of impunity.

Thus, the importance of going all out see to it that Canada and Quebec do not become a base for such elements to continue unabated, inciting the worse kind of hatred and threats against the Cuban people but also against all those -- and we are many -- who love and support Cuba. It must not pass!

Stop inciting terrorist attacks against Cuba!

Remove Cuba from the list of State sponsors of terrorism!

End the blockade now!

Punish the culprits of the current attack on Cuba's Washington embassy!

(September 26, 2023)

U.S. National Network on Cuba

The National Network on Cuba condemns the terrorist firebombing of the Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC, this past Sunday evening. Two Molotov cocktails were hurled at the building Sunday, in the second violent attack in recent years. The NNOC firmly believes that it is the US government and the Biden administration that is responsible for continuing to fund a campaign of violent, extremist hatred against Cuba.

This attack is a direct result of the US government's aggressive policy and hateful discourse against the island nation. The US has created, funded, and trained hundreds of anti-Cuba terrorist organizations; given asylum to terrorists responsible for killing thousands of Cuban civilians; and continues to fund $20 million each year to groups that attack and destabilize the Cuban government.

For decades, Cuba, which has been a sponsor of life and the well-being of all humanity, has been the target of US-backed terrorism. Yet the US has the nerve to designate Cuba as a "State Sponsor of Terrorism" as part of its illegal economic war against the 11 million Cuban people.

President Biden could remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List with the stroke of a pen.

More than 100 resolutions from City Councils, County Commissions, State Legislatures and importantly, workers organizations, are calling for the illegal U.S. blockade of the island to end. Fully a third of the resolutions have been collected this year and specifically demand that Pres Biden remove Cuba from the SSOT. The resolutions of elected bodies represent more than 54 million U.S. residents.

We, the US people, stand with Cuba and call for an end to this warfare, an end to all US sanctions, and an end to US-backed terrorism against Cuba.

Let Cuba Live! Take Cuba Off The List!

The NNOC is an umbrella representing fifty seven organizations that work toward normalizing US-Cuba relations, respecting Cuba's sovereignty.

(September 26, 2023)

CODEPINK

Solidarity action outside Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC, September 25 opposes U.S. hostile policy toward Cuba, including the latest terrorist on the embassy.

Last night, the Cuban Embassy in Washington D.C. was attacked with two Molotov cocktails thrown at the building. This is the second time in the past three years that there have been violent attacks against the Cuban Embassy. CODEPINK calls on the U.S. government to immediately investigate this attack as an act of terrorism. We also call on the U.S. government to take Cuba off its state sponsors of terror list. We must put an end to the aggression towards Cuba and work towards normalizing relations with our island neighbor.

"Could it be more ironic? A country being accused of terrorism by the U.S. once again suffers a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. It's time to stop the senseless aggression against this small island nation of 11 million and normalize relations," said CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin.

The United States continues to falsely label Cuba a state sponsor of terror, despite the fact that Cuba does not engage in any terrorist activity. This act of violence against the embassy comes on the heels of a series of impactful meetings by Cuban President Diaz-Canel at the United Nations, as well as successful meetings with Cuban Americans, businesspeople, and U.S. artists and activists.

Tonight, CODEPINK, along with other allies, will be out in front of the Cuban Embassy to show love and solidarity to the people of Cuba in the face of this act of hate and aggression, and to demand justice for this attack and to call for an end to the blockade on Cuba.

"The attacks against the Embassy of Cuba last night are the product of intolerance and hatred rooted in false accusations of terrorism suffered by the Cuban people. It's time to get Cuba off the list and promote peace and understanding among our peoples." said Michelle Ellner, CODEPINK's Latin America Team organizer.

The event will take place at 5:00pm at the Cuban Embassy, located at 2630 16th Street NW, Washington D.C. We urge all those who stand for peace and justice to join us in solidarity with the Cuban people.

(September 25, 2023. Photo: L. Torres Rivera)

Film Review

Plantadas – A Fantastical Film of Anti-Cuban Hate

– Youth for Democratic Renewal –

On September 22, the "Organizations in Canada of Cubans for Democracy" organized a showing of the film Plantadas at the University of Ottawa. Sponsored by 32 organizations and individuals, approximately 40 people attended, including the director Lilo Vilaplana and staff from the embassies of Czechia and Poland. Before the film, the organizers played Cuban music and people from various regions of the country danced at the front of the room, which was then followed by a typical anti-communist speech about "human rights in Cuba."

The film itself is an out-and-out counterrevolutionary and hateful anti-Cuban display, with the aim of spreading disinformation to foment counter-revolution within Cuba and egg on anti-communists in exile to act against the revolutionary government. It is therefore no surprise that it opens with "created with the support of politicians, organizations and institutions in exile." Throughout, it portrays the Cuban revolutionaries as psychopaths, rapists, sadists, murderers and violent abusers towards women. About 75 per cent of the screen time is only these violent tortuous scenes – undoubtedly intending to portray communism itself as evil and barbaric. And to boot, the story is filled with traitors, liars and backstabbers, in an attempt to prove that human beings are inherently deceitful and you cannot trust one another, especially communists or anyone associated with the Cuban government. This incredulous slander is ironic given that this type of factional betrayal is precisely the method of anti-communists worldwide.

In specific, the plot centres on three women -- America, Alina and Luisa -- who originally supported the revolution but begin to oppose it after coming to see the revolutionary leaders as evil despots. One by one, they are hunted down and kidnapped for their oppositional political views, or sometimes their Catholic faith (it is not overtly religious, though there are allusions throughout), or even sometimes familial associations. These women and their men live in opulent homes, with the lives of the masses of people omitted. One specific example of the women being taken away reveals the aim of the film – as they are loaded into trucks under the guise of being "prostitutes," one of the women lurches forward into a crowd, screaming that she is a "political prisoner." The crowd is portrayed as supporting and sympathetic, attempting to prove that the revolution was not a product of the masses, but that it was imposed on them by evildoers. The message, both to Cubans living at home and in exile, is to realize the brutality of the Cuban government and act against it – modelled after the heroes in the movie.

The women are then raped by guards, sent into the filthiest prison cells and allowed no rights whatsoever. They are then tortured over and over again. The story of America reveals that after her cellmate is arbitrarily executed, and as she subsequently screams "murderers" at the guards repeatedly, the guards resort to "torture" by blasting The Internationale into her cell. Screaming and crying, America's ears begin to bleed and she resolves to plug them, as if the song of the international working class causes one physical pain. Other "political prisoners" are forced into cells with mainly black lesbian prisoners who then rape and sexually assault the women, portraying black people and lesbians as inherently aggressive in nature. Women in menstruation are denied access to health care and told to "use your fingers or the stuffing in the mattress." This serves to depict a fiction where the Cuban revolutionary movement was and is an affront to women's rights, using the prisoners' identities as women to portray Cuba as a violator of human rights in general. What is especially ironic is that Angel Santiesteban Prats, one of the film's screenwriters, was sentenced by a Cuban court in 2012 to five years in prison on a count of physically assaulting his wife.

If the countless instances of assault towards women were not enough, their lovers and relatives are also beaten, brutalized, jailed and murdered in cold blood without trial. The main betrayal, of many which occur throughout, is when one of Alina's two lovers is kidnapped by her other lover who is secretly working for the revolutionary government and infiltrating the counterrevolutionary movement. He is then tortured, beaten and released on petition of the Organization of American States, only to be jailed again.

Nor is the film free of racist undertones, for in addition to portraying female black prisoners as aggressive rapists towards the "innocent white women," the only black people it shows on the side of either conflict are on the side of "evil," communism and Cuba.

Besides the odious content, the form of the film is also unwatchable. The movie's plot is only believable for the most naive anti-communist because nowhere is it consistent, and nowhere does it even define what these women are fighting for, what "the movement" (as they constantly refer to it as) is. There is no backstory or any sort of context. It is merely to showcase the evil and crimes of communism. The brutal scenes of torture are so extensive that no sensible or humane person could enjoy the film. The only people who could possibly derive enjoyment from it are those who enjoy seeing communism and Cuba depicted as such.

The entire film hinges on portraying communism, communists and the Cuban revolutionaries not as only people with bad ideas, but in fact sadists who have no ideas and whose only happiness comes from the pain and suffering of others. This, the movie's writers claim, is "inspired by true events." It associates communism and Cuba with everything evil and criminal against humanity.

Canadians and Quebeckers, who have a long history of friendship with revolutionary Cuba, know Cuba for what it is and how it consistently stands -- a country whose people are heroically fighting an all-sided imperialist blockade, a country whose advances in women's emancipation are historic, a country which does not eat with golden spoons but has everything they create through their own toil, a country which consistently sides with the peoples around the world in their strivings for peace, freedom and democracy. No fantastical fiction, no matter how vile it may portray Cuba, can erase these facts.

October 9, 1967

Homage to Ernesto Che Guevara on 56th Anniversary of His Assassination

Today we honour Ernesto Che Guevara, the indomitable revolutionary fighter and proletarian internationalist whose legacy inspires millions.

Hailing from Argentina, a doctor who wished more than anything to contribute to ending the suffering of the peoples of Latin America and the world, Che did not hesitate to join Comrade Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolutionaries in the Sierra Maestra to liberate Cuba. He earned the honour of Heroic Guerrilla for his feats in battle which contributed decisively to the defeat of the cruel Batista dictatorship in 1959 and the subsequent triumph of the Revolution. Che achieved this by devoting himself to the Cuban revolutionary project of making sure the economic base was established which would secure the well-being of the Cuban people, while also contributing to making sure everyone in Cuba was literate and that viable means of communication were established. He was known for promoting volunteer labour as a means of transforming the consciousness of human beings to ensure their society always fulfills its social responsibilities. He was the finest example of the modern human person, for whom principles guided his every action. His actions exuded social love and concern for his fellow human beings.

As a stellar leader, Che mobilized the people to carry out the necessary tasks. When the U.S. engaged in economic subversion and then launched terrorist attacks against the nascent revolution, Che did not flinch but joined the ranks of the revolutionary fighters to rally the Cuban people to fight back. His contribution to set Cuba on the socialist road and safeguard the Revolution left an indelible mark on what Cuba stands for today.

The internationalism of Che Guevara and Cuba's internationalism are synonymous. They are self-sacrificing; devoid of arrogance or narrow sentiments which put self-interest first. Che Guevara was imbued to his very core with the desire to engage the peoples all over the world in the fight for their freedom, holding high the banner of anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggle in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Ernesto Che Guevara died a heroic death on the battlefield of Bolivia 56 years ago. The people of Cuba and the world mourn his loss as if it were only yesterday that he joined the ranks of communist and revolutionary martyrs. Today, the people of Quebec and Canada, together with the heroic Cuban people and the revolutionary peoples throughout the world, commemorate the 56th anniversary of his assassination at the hands of the despised U.S. CIA by renewing their pledge to defend the Cuban Revolution of which Fidel, Che, Raúl, Camilo, Vilma, Heidi, Tania and their comrades were the architects, and all the revolutionary Cuban guerrilla fighters and people who are one with them.

On this occasion, CPC(M-L) renews its commitment to defend the right of all nations to self-determination which includes as its integral part, as Che taught us, the crucial right to self-defence.

Hasta la Victoria Siempre! Venceremos!

Cuban guerrillas in the Rebel Army's 4th Column led by Che Guevara celebrate New Year's 1958. Che's autonomous column began operations in late July 1957 and was the first troop to emerge from the original guerrilla force.

Che addresses the residents of Fomento, Las Villas province, November 1958. This is the first city in the region liberated by the rebel forces led by Che before they ultimately win the entire region. From here they move to central Cuba and the decisive battle of Santa Clara.

Che addresses massive demonstration outside the former presidential palace in Havana, October 26, 1959 to reject counterrevolutionary provocations from the U.S.

Che, Raúl and Fidel, 1959.

Che leads by example, taking part in volunteer work after completing his duties at the Ministry of Industry or on weekends. Top: Che cuts sugar cane with his wife Aleida March and his old friend Alberto Granado. Bottom: at the Port of Havana in 1961, with economist Orlando Borrego, Che's colleague at the Ministry of Industry.

Cuba's historic literacy campaign is the initiative of Che and Fidel and raises the literacy rate to 96 per cent. On December 21, 1961, they join celebrations with Cuban literacy workers to mark the completion of the year-long campaign.

Che and the guerrillas of the Bolivian National Liberation Army share Christmas dinner, 1966.

Toronto Event to Commemorate Che Guevara

October 9 this year marks the 56th anniversary of the assassination of Che Guevara, a key figure in the triumph of the Cuban Revolution and Cuba's socialist nation-building project.

The Toronto Forum on Cuba is holding an event to commemorate Che on this anniversary. It the call for the event, the organizers write: "Ernesto Che Guevara is known for a life dedicated to just causes, internationalism. anti-imperialism and socialism. Che wrote brilliantly and scientifically about the economic issues facing a revolutionary government during a socialist transition in Cuba and the world. Knowing and learning of his revolutionary ideas matter today while humanity is living in a decaying capitalist system that generates wars, occupations, hunger, disease, climate calamity and cultural bankruptcy."

Fidel Castro on October 18, 1967 addressing a million people during a memorial rally for Che in Havana said, "And we do not doubt that his ideas -- as a man of action, as a man of thought, as a person of untarnished moral virtues, as a person of unexcelled human sensitivity, as a person of spotless conduct -- have and will continue to have universal value.".

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