May Day – Havana

Havana, Cuba
Photo: Bill Hackwell

Five Cuban heroes led the 2015 May Day “United in the Construction of Socialism” march in Havana, and then joined Cuban President Raúl Castro and Bolivarian Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro under the statue of José Martí in Revolution Square. On Dec. 17, the U.S. released the last three of the Cuban 5 — Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez, Ramón Labañino Salazar and Gerardo Hernández Nordelo — from 16 years of unjust imprisonment, and they returned to Cuba, where they joined their comrades René González Sehwerert and Fernando González Llort, who had been released earlier. Washington also recognized that day the legitimacy of Cuba’s socialist government. Cuba’s victory celebration is continuing.

Workers, organizers and activists from North America, Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean joined the Cuban people on May Day — but the day was especially meaningful for the tireless organizers who brought the cry to free the Cuban 5 to every corner of the globe.

Following May Day, the five Cuban heroes are heading to Venezuela in an act of solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution and a human response to President Barack Obama’s sanctions imposed on Venezuela and other destabilization schemes.