00:00In Guatemala, organizations show in solidarity with Cuba pay tribute to the 100th anniversary
00:05of Commander Fidel Castro and to the Cuban Medical Brigade, which is withdrawing after
00:1028 years of service.
00:12Our colleague Santiago Bot贸n has the details.
00:17In a corner of Guatemala City, the aroma of fricassee and black beans accompanies a major
00:23tribute, the centenary of Commander Fidel Castro, a figure whom organizations hold up
00:29as a model of resistance for revolutionary movements around the world.
00:36As an icon of the Latin American and global revolution, we are extremely proud of him.
00:43And every time we think about his birthday, we remember, on a human level, how he always
00:47presented himself to the people of Cuba and the world.
00:53The tribute to Commander Fidel is intertwined with another tribute, that of the Cuban Medical
00:58Brigade, which, after 28 years of continuous service in Guatemala, is beginning its retreat,
01:04leaving a health care void in communities that depended on its mission.
01:09But essentially, it is the imperialist's desire to sabotage every aspect of Cuba's actions.
01:16They believe that a Cuban doctor is spreading communism in Guatemala, when in fact he is simply
01:21providing medical care.
01:27In every plate of fricassee and black beans served today in Guatemala, there is a silent
01:32gesture of solidarity.
01:33The money raised will be sent to Cuba in the form of solar panels and other supplies, a concrete
01:39response to the imperialist blockade.
01:44We have been under a blockade for more than 60 years, but the measures being adopted, one
01:48after another, are intended to suffocate us, to bring about a genocide against our people.
01:53It is a collective punishment that makes no distinctions.
01:59This event is the fourth link in a chain of reciprocity and a contrapoint to top-down diplomacy, demonstrating
02:07how the bond between people survives changes in government and geopolitical pressures.
02:14Because he left us with ideas of equality, solidarity, humanism, and the struggle to ensure
02:19that societies around the world no longer experience war, and that there be peace.
02:26While the Guatemalan government is scaling back its cooperation under external pressure,
02:31social consciousness continues, one meal at a time, to carry out its own form of diplomacy
02:36as proof that Commander Fidel's legacy still endures in these lands.
02:41Santiago Bot贸n, TELESUR, Guatemala City.
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