On Thursday 28^th January the ACFS Perth called for a special meeting to celebrate the 157^th anniversary of birth of Cuban hero of independence Jose Marti.

It was a very moving celebration to pay homage and remember one of the greatest Latin American poets and revolutionaries who committed their lives to the people.

The ACFS screened the documentary on the life of Marti, ‘Soldier of light” which gives a brief description of the rich life of the apostle of Cuba. Members of the society discussed the life of Jose Marti and read one of his famous poems: “Versos Sencillos”.

ACFS also discussed Cuban’s contribution in Haiti as well as condemned the occupation carried out by the Obama Administration in contrast with Cubans medical assistance.

The attendees demanded Cuba be removed from the US list of countries sponsors of international terrorism.

ACFS has sent letters to the US ambassador based in Canberra demanding the removal of Cuba from the US terrorist list. ACFS also sent an open letter to the Australian Foreign Affairs minister, the Hon Stephen Smith asking the government to make a donation of medicines to the Cuban health brigade in Haiti.

ACFS read a message of solidarity sent by local member Dr Katherine Edyvane who is currently working with a team of Cuban doctors in East Timor.

Finally, we all enjoyed a delicious cake specially baked for the occasion by local member

Rhonda Andrews.

Viva Cuba,

Viva Jose Marti

Long live the friendship between Australia and Cuba!

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ACFS   

AUSTRALIA-CUBA FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY, WA BRANCH      

PO BOX 1455   SOUTH PERTH   WA   6951

acfsperth@gmail.com

28th January 2010

                 Open Letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Stephen Smith

PO Box 6022                                                        PO Box 901
House of Representatives                                       Inglewood WA 6932
Parliament House           
Canberra ACT 2600

To the Honourable Stephen Smith

We write with a letter of request for you to consider sending financial assistance from Australia to supply medicines and medical supplies to the Cuban doctors in Haiti.

We believe this is the best way to deliver aid effectively to Haiti.  Cuban doctors already have 11 solid years of helping Haiti with doctors and health professionals. After the earthquake they were there first, setting up a hospital beside the collapsed national hospital.

By noon on day 2 more medical teams arrived from Cuba and currently there are around 400 doctors and nurses and other technicians in eight separate field hospitals. Already over 13400 consultations, 1070 surgical interventions of which 550 were considered major surgeries have been performed and the need is ongoing with secondary infections and gangrene now appearing.

The U.S. blockade on Cuba impacts greatly on the cost of medical supplies to the Cuban doctors and despite this Cuba continues to supply free medical aid – the Cuban government funds the personnel – on a scale unmatched even by the World Health Organization and Médecins Sans Frontières.

The earthquakes in the Kashmir region of Pakistan in 2005 illustrates well the extent of this assistance when Cuban doctors were the only attending medical teams that set up field hospitals in the most hard to reach areas to the north. Often the most seriously ill patients are transported to Cuba for treatment including Vietnamese Kim Phuc, the little girl shown in the famous war photograph running naked along a road, her skin burned by napalm and some 19,000 adults and children from the three Soviet republics most affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident of 1986

The Norwegian Embassy in Cuba has signed an agreement with the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment (MINCEX) to donate five million Norwegian crowns (approximately US $885,000) as emergency aid to the Haitian people. The money will be used to buy and send medical equipment and supplies to the Cuban Health Brigade working in Haiti.

We strongly encourage you to follow the example of Norway and make a contribution from Australia.

Regards,

Elizabeth Hulm

Branch Secretary

0421 113 343

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Please join us for a celebration to commemorate Jose Marti's birth. A short documentary will be screened, join us and feel free to invite your friends along. There will also be a brief discussion about the latest developments of US policy on Cuba such as the inclusion on the list of 14 countries that sponsor terrorism. Bring a plate to share, we will have drinks there.

Thursday 28 January

6.30pm Perth Activist Centre 

(15 / 5 Aberdeen St, East Perth - next to McIver station)

[Please note this meeting doesn't replace our first branch meeting for 2010 which will be held at the activist centre on Monday 1st February at 6:30pm]

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Dear ACFSers:

We have posted here a video on the Royal Ballet recent visit to Cuba. You can also look at the comments posted by viewers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlOYra_wzKU

The anniversary of birth of Cuban hero of independence Jose Marty is on this Thursday 28th January. We will endeavor to organise a short meeting to pay homage to him. Details to follow.

We will also include a discussion on the recent inclusion of Cuba as a country sponsor of international terrorism by the Obama administration.

In friendship,

Vinnie Molina

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