Italy-Cuba Friendship Association Congress Closes in Parma

With the approval of the final documents and the election of the new board of directors, the twelfth congress of the National Association of Italy-Cuba Friendship (Anaic) concludes here today.

For three days, 120 delegates representing the 3,500 members of the organization, belonging to 68 circles throughout the country, evaluated the work done in the last four years and aimed at new goals in the sustained work of support and solidarity with the Cuban people and their Revolution.

Speaking on the eve of the plenary session, the first vice president of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), Elio Gámez, underscored the important role played in defense of the Revolution by Anaic, one of the first institutions of its kind founded in Europe, 57 years ago.

He highlighted the footprint left in the history of the organization by men and women, physically disappeared, who for almost six decades gave themselves to solidarity with the island from Italy, including Giovanni Ardisone, a young medical student killed in Milan during a demonstration on October 27, 1962.

He also stressed the importance of continuing with this active solidarity, bearing in mind that despite the release of the five anti-terrorist fighters and the restoration of diplomatic relations with the United States, the US blockade against the Caribbean nation remains intact, and even it intensifies.

He also clarified that in the conversations of his country with the United States and the European Union, 'never have been put on the table or one of our principles of internal and external policy,' including their internationalist vocation.

Gámez put special emphasis on the preservation of the unity of the solidarity movement as an indispensable element to achieve the effectiveness of their actions, regardless of political affiliation, religious creed, sexual orientation, skin color or origin of those who develop them.