HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 25 (acn) The Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP by its Spanish acronym) awarded the Friendship Medal on Tuesday in Havana to Cuban-American Arnaldo Goenaba Barron .
At the request of ICAP, the Cuban Council of State approved a decree grantng the distinction to Goenaba Barron for his longstanding struggle in the defense of the Revolution before and after 1959.
Ricardo Alarcon, President of the Cuban Parliament present at the ceremony said that when he learned that Barron would be getting the Friendship Medal he knew that it was been given to “someone that is inseparable to our history”. He said “Barron is a combatant, revolutionary, Cuban of the old vanguard”.
Barron, as he is known among his closest friends, was leader of the July 26th Movement in the United States. Alarcon said that he “fought during a period of time that was not easy”. He represents something that is also very important. “He is from a group of Cubans whose history has been distorted in the US”, said Alarcon.
Not all Cubans that live in the US “oppose our revolutionary process, he is from that period of Cubans that migrated to the US during the 1940’s and 1950’s, fleeing the dictatorship and ready to fight for a change on the island”, said the President of the Cuban Parliament.
“Barron, alongside thousands of Cubans in the US that supported the leader of the Revolution Fidel Castro in the revolutionary process, led the way to the victory in 1959”, said Alarcon.
He added that he is one of millions of Cubans in the United States that currently defend the island’s independence, sovereignty and self determination and want normalization of ties with between the two countries.
The President of Casa de las Americas solidarity organization based in New York, Nancy Cabrero said that it is an honor for them to see Barron receive such a distinction.
She informed those present in the ceremony that Casa de la Americas was founded in 1955, when Fidel Castro visited New York looking for support among the Cuban emigrants. Fidel, with the support of Barron and other members of the Orthodox Party in New York, organized the July 26th Movement in the United States. This committee helped the movement with monetary donations and other materials for the liberation movement underway on the island.
After the triumph of the Revolution, this committee was known as Casa Cuba and later Casa de las Americas which Baron and his wife Gloria, also helped organize.
Nancy concluded her words by quoting Cuba’s National Hero Jose Marti who said “Hacer es la Mejor Forma de Decir”, Action is Better Than Words. This she said, “is the slogan of Casa de las Americas and Barron and Gloria have been vivid examples of Marti’s words.”
Also present in the distinction ceremony were, Rafael Dausa, representative of the Cuban Foreign Ministry; Pedro Nunez Mosquera, Cuban ambassador to the United Nations; Kenia Serrano, ICAP President; members of Casa de las Americas in NY and other guests.
Cuban American Receives Friendship Medal in Havana
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