Communist Party of Australia

Havana 2009: National President of the Communist Party of Australia, Vinnie Molina, was awarded a special edition of the Lazaro Pena medal in Cuba by the Central Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC) during the May Day International Solidarity Conference on May 2 for his service to work in solidarity with Cuban workers.

This year on the 70th anniversary of the CTC, 49 organisations and individuals received the medal including a small number of international recipients, a first for such an acknowledgment previously given only to Cubans who have excelled in areas such as work, sport, arts or community service.

Around 70 Australian trade unionists were in Havana to celebrate May Day, one of the largest delegations of Australians to ever participate in the celebrations. They joined another 2,000 international guests from 80 countries taking part in the 50th anniversary of the revolution celebrations covering 236 international trade unions and solidarity groups.

The following day, in another first, the Cuban Construction Union awarded five trade unionists from Australia Vinnie Molina, Kevin Reynolds, Noel Washington, Andrew Ferguson from the CFMEU and Greg Simcoe from the BLF Queensland, with the Armando Mestre medal. Armando Mestre was one of the Moncada Barracks revolutionary fighters assassinated by the Batista dictatorship.

After the conference US, Canadian, UK and Australian delegates attended a special meeting with members of the families of the Cuban Five including Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez who have been denied visas to visit their husbands for almost the entire duration of their incarceration.

The families stressed at the meeting that June was a critical time for the case of the Five as their application to have the case re-examined will be considered by the Supreme Court. The meeting of delegates resolved to take up an International campaign from the 4-14 June to raise awareness (particularly in the US where the case of the Five is under a media blackout) and lobby the Obama administration for justice. To be part of the campaign visit www.freethefive.org or email: acfsperth@gmail.com

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