BREAKING NEWS: A first-hand report from Cuba by Lars Bertling, Russell McClain and Sharon Black, reporters for Struggle-La Lucha, members of the Socialist Unity Party and representatives of the Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly, participating in the 31st IFCO/Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan.
Havana, Nov. 16 — It was an all day ordeal on Monday, Nov. 15, on the U.S. side. We waited in grueling airport security lines and spent hours checking in. Two of our representatives barely got their passports. We had to get up at 5 a.m. and drive to the passport office in Miami and keep our fingers crossed.
But when we got to Cuba it was all worth it.
On landing our spirits soared and our energy returned. Cuban people and their leaders were waiting at the airport, along with a bevy of news media. Our group was literally the first delegation to travel to the newly opened Cuba, which had been closed to international visitors because of the pandemic. Nov. 15 was the opening of schools and services in Cuba and is also a day celebrating the anniversary of Havana.
When we got to the Cuban Martin Luther King Center (yes, there is such a thing) young Cuban singers and musicians greeted us along with local Marianao community and political leaders and representatives of the MLK Center .
