García Bielsa is the first secretary of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington. "When the revolution triumphed, we extended our solidarity to the rest of the world. Cuba contributed to the national liberation of African countries. Today there are 6,000 African students in Cuba," he added.

The Cuban diplomat was welcomed by the mayor of Las Vegas, Henry Sanchez, and by a representative of the president of Highlands University. A city official from Springer, New Mexico, was also present. Sixty people attended the event, including 10 students from The United World College in the city.

Other panelists at the meeting included Miguel Angel and Arnold Trujillo, both from the Las Vegas, New Mexico/Banes, Cuba, Sister City Association and Peloteros por la Paz (Baseball Players for Peace), and Louis Head of the Cuba Research and Analysis Group (CRAG) of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"Cuba has not only faced hostility in the economic arena," García told the meeting, referring to the U.S. embargo against the island. He recounted the early history of United States hostility toward revolutionary Cuba. "The Missile Crisis of 1962 was not over missiles. The U.S. government’s goal was to bring about the overthrow of the Cuban government after their failure in the Bay of Pigs in 1961. The October Crisis was a new pretext to justify military intervention.

"From 1960 to 1965 we fought off gangs of contras in Cuba organized and trained in Florida," García said. He recalled how 100,000 young people volunteered to eradicate illiteracy and raise the general level of culture in Cuba during those opening years of the revolution.

Washington has continued to carry out a relentless campaign to overturn the revolution. The first victims of a U.S.-sponsored attack on a plane were the Cuban Olympic team, whose aircraft was bombed in 1976, he said. They were all killed by a U.S.-trained counterrevolutionary, "Orlando Bosch, who now walks free in the streets of Miami."

In pointing to more than 40 years of hostility toward the Cuban people by Washington, he condemned U.S. president George Bush’s remarks about using "preemptive strikes." He told the audience that when Washington speaks of "preemptive," it is saying it has the right to attack other countries as it has in the past.

Trujillo and Angel spoke on the sister city projects between U.S. and Cuban cities. Trujillo enumerated 15 cities across the United States that have sister cities in Cuba. Nine other U.S. cities want to do the same, he said. Through the sister city project and Peloteros por la Paz, "we have sent shipments of donated baseball equipment to the youth in Banes and we’re working on the next one," explained Angel.

Trujillo also announced the Cuba Medical Scholarship Program. Through this project students of oppressed nationalities in the United States are studying medicine at the Latin American School of Medical Sciences in Havana free of charge. Two of the six students participating in this six-year program from Highlands University were present and will depart for Havana in December.

Louis Head, of CRAG, spoke on the role of his organization in "facilitating academic, cultural, and informational exchanges between the two countries, including journalist assistance and applied research." Head announced a public meeting on Cuba that will take up the fight to defend the five Cuban political prisoners. The event will take place on the same weekend as the National Network on Cuba’s national conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 16.  
 
 
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