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July 26th, 2013 Vancouver, Canada Celebrates 60 years of the July 26th Movement and the Gains of the Cuban Revolution The unwavering spirit of the Cuban Revolution took a failed attempt to take the Moncada garrison on July 26th 1953 onwards to the triumphant revolution whose gains are an example of the fight for a better world. 60 years on, this date is celebrated in Cuba as the spark that ignited the Cuban Revolution. On July 26th, 2013 in Vancouver, Canada, over 60 people joined in to celebrate and commemorate this historic date with an evening organized by Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC). Colleen Glynn, the secretary of VCSC and the MC of the evening, welcomed everyone to the event and started out the evening with the film “638 Ways to Kill Castro”. The film revealed in detail just how hard the US government has worked to try to assassinate the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. Following the film, Alison Bodine, co-coordinator of the Free the Cuban 5 Committee – Vancouver, spoke about not only the historic date of July 26th 1953, but how the movement sparked from that date lives and grows in the continuous Cuban Revolution. Alison was followed by Janine Solanki, organizer with Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC). Janine told the remarkable story of one of the two Cuban women who participated in the attack on Moncada, Haydee Santamaria, and read her account of what happened on the July 26th attack on Moncada. Vancouver was then connected with the July 26th celebration in Cuba, through photos of July 26th 2013 celebrations and phone greetings from Cuba. Tamara Hansen (coordinator of Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba) along with VCSC organizers Thomas Davies and Aaron Mercredi spoke from Santiago de Cuba, where they were with the Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba that participated in the national July 26th celebration earlier that day. A warm greeting was also heard from Andrés Morejón, head of the US desk of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP). VCSC organizer Shakeel Lochan then took the stage to read a spoken word poem he wrote to commemorate July 26th. He was followed by Rozhin, a recent brigadista from the 2013 Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade to Cuba. Rozhin read the final letter from Che Guevara to Fidel before he went on to contribute to more revolutionary movements beyond Cuba. The audience was then treated to Latin American music of love and revolution, sang by the talented MX Katracho. Azza Rojbi, co-coordinator of the Free the Cuban 5 Committee – Vancouver, shared a letter from one of the Cuban 5, Antonio Guerrero, to the Cuban people for July 26th. Azza also encouraged people to get involved and emphasized that with the recent return of Rene Gonzalez to Cuba we have to redouble our efforts to free all of the Cuban 5 heroes still held in US jails for investigating US based terrorism against Cuba. The event came to the much anticipated salsa dance lesson, led by salsa instructor Roud Laila. With Roud’s patient instruction and the rhythm of Cuban salsa music, soon the lesson turned into a full fledged dance party with everyone trying out their newfound steps! The dancing adapted from the salsa rhythm on to hip hop beats as Vancouver based hip hop artist Joose Justis took the mic and rapped his socially conscious lyrics. The evening wrapped up with everyone feeling a little closer to Cuba, and closed with everyone joining in chanting “Viva Cuba! Viva la Revolucion! Hasta la Victoria Siempre, Venceremos!” --------------------------------------------------- Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba – VCSC vancubasolidarity@gmail.com | 778-882-5223 Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/vancubasolidarity Twitter: https://twitter.com/VanCuba_VCSC Facebook: VCSC Facebook page