ON July 26, many prominent citizens of Delhi got together at the Constitution Club to celebrate the Moncada Day, which was the day Cuba was liberated. Giving a spirited talk at the gathering, CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet said the development and progress registered by Cuba in the last decade was phenomenal and was achieved in face of the criminal embargo imposed by the USA.

Cuba is today a place where there is no hunger. From an only sugar-producing nation where there was only poverty, Cuba has today come to a position where it has wiped out unemployment and provided to its citizens full facilities of health care and education, better than even those in the US. Saying that Cuba stood as a shining example of socialist development, Surjeet demanded immediate lifting of the US embargo. He also spoke against the USA’s imperialistic designs and said it was high time to stand up against the American hegemonistic drive.

The other speakers were the CPI general secretary A B Bardhan, Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson Smt Najama Heptullah who explained in detail her amazing interactions with the Cuban Leader Fidel Castro, International Peace Conference chairman R Chandra, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury, and Cuba’s ambassador to India.

All the speakers proclaimed their solidarity with the Cuban people and demanded the release of 6 innocent Cubans who have been imprisoned in the United States.

Also present at the function were ambassadors and heads of missions from several Latin American and African nations. (INN)