GRANMA
Guantánamo to host world peace movement
The eastern province will host 200 peace activists from across the world during the 4th International Seminar for Peace and the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases, November 20-21
One of the objectives of the meeting is to promote the exchange of experiences on the consequences of foreign military bases. Photo: ArchivoOn November 20-21, the Fourth International Seminar for Peace and the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases will take place in the province of Guantánamo, Silvio Platero, president of the Cuban Movement for Peace and Sovereignty of the Peoples, announced this Thursday, November 12, at the International Press Center.
The event, organized by the Cuban Movement for Peace and the World Peace Council, will be hosted in Mariana Grajales hall at the provincial Plaza de la Revolución.
One of the objectives of the gathering is to promote the exchange of experiences on the consequences of foreign military installations around the world.
Platero noted that the Cuban province was chosen to host the event as it is home to the oldest U.S. military base outside of that country’s territory, the illegal Guantánamo Naval Base.
He added that in the case of Cuba, this site is the permanent focus of actions that threaten the island’s people, sovereignty and national integrity.
The illegally occupied territory is at odds with the CELAC Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, adopted in Havana in 2014.
The U.S. took possession of Guantánamo Bay as part of the “Cuban–American Treaty” which was imposed on the island in 1903. The lease was cancelled by Cuba in 1960, but the U.S. has refused to accept this.
A solution to the conflict has been one of the main Cuban demands since the triumph of the Revolution, and constitutes a key element in the ongoing process towards the normalization of relations between the two countries.
These international seminars have been held every two years in Cuba since 2008. During the press conference regarding this year’s event, it was reported that they will continue until the Guantánamo Naval Base is removed and the territory returned to the island.
So far over 200peace activists,including representativesof the 40member countriesof the World Peace Council, have confirmedtheir attendance.
The World Peace Council is a nongovernmental organization of multinational character, which was established in Poland in 1950, while the Cuban Movement for Peace and Sovereignty of the Peoples is a founding member of the Council; its first president having been Fernando Ortiz.
GRANMA: Guantánamo: Delegates from 27 nations to attend International Seminar for Peace
103 peace activists from the U.S. will attend the event taking place in Guantánamo, November 23-25
Author: Jorge Luis Merencio Cautín
November 18, 2015 09:11:29
Guantánamo.— A total of 103 U.S. peace activists have confirmed their attendance to the 4th International Seminar for Peace and the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases, taking place in the city from November 23-25.
So far, 200 delegates from 27 countries are confirmed to participate, with the U.S. representing the largest delegation, reported Silvio Platero, president of the Cuban Movement for Peace and Sovereignty of the Peoples.
Speaking yesterday, November 17, Platero stated that the U.S. delegation will include Cindy Sheehan, Ann Wright and Medea Benjamín, among other personalities who have dedicated part of their lives to the struggle for peace and fraternity between the peoples of the world.
The Seminar aims to denounce the interventionist policies of the major world powers, intent on establishing military bases on every continent, while also promoting support for the Cuban people and government’s just demand for the return the territory illegally occupied since 1903 by the Guantánamo Naval Base.
The U.S. military facility located in the eastern province of Guantánamo includes a prison, thought to be the cruelest and most inhumane torture center in the world. The over 100 prisoners incarcerated there have never been tried for the alleged acts of terrorism they are accused of having committed.
The event is organized by the Cuban Movement for Peace and World Peace Council, in coordination with the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples. Prior to the Seminar, a meeting of the World Peace Council Executive Committee will take place November 20-21, in the halls of the Mariana Grajales plaza de la Revolución.
