Cuban Ambassador to Botswana H.E. Orlando E. Alvarez Alvarez shares a light moment with veteran South African freedom fighter and politician, Gertrude Ntiti Shope, the mother of H.E. Thaninga Shope-Soumah, South Africa’ s High Commissioner to Botswana (Pic.TPA)
Cynthia Thanda
The Pan Africanist Watchman
July 26th is not just any other day for the Cuban people.
It marks an important milestone in the history of the Caribbean island that is renowned for its cigars, medicine, and communism.
It was in this spirit that a small portion of the Cuban community in Botswana joined by members of the diplomatic corps, government reps, and Friends of Cuba converged Tuesday 26th July 2022 at the residence of the South African High Commissioner in Phakalane to commemorate this historic day.
Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba in Botswana, His Excellency Orlando E.Alvarez Alvarez expressed gratitude for the support from his fellow colleagues that joined in the celebration.
The confidence and freedom fighting spirit of the Cuban people is traced through a man named Fidel Castro and a group of youngsters who restarted the battle for the complete and definitive independence of Cuba on July 26th, 1953.
Fidel and his comrades, known as the mambises assaulted the Moncada Garrison, the second most powerful military installation in Cuba. Their victory was a rough road with 30 years of heroic struggle against Spanish colonialism and the consolidation grip on Cuban sovereignty by the big power to the North.
For many years there were several attempts to correct the situation with the workers’ movement: the students and other groups in the society used political tools such as strikes and weapons to finish what the mambises had started.
During this fight for freedom, many people were assassinated while Fidel and others were captured and condemned to prison. However, they were released two years later due to popular pressure and they went into exile in Mexico where they prepared for their return in the Granma Yacht.
They fought a war for two years and with the support of the population, destroyed the tyrannical regime of Fulgencio Batista.. Sadly, twenty thousand lives were sacrificed in these events.
His Excellency Orlando E. Alvarez Alvarez said the importance of the 26th of July is that the attack on the Moncada became ‘the small engine that started the big engine of the Revolution,” as Fidel said.
This statement was welcomed with beautiful words from the South African High Commissioner, Her Excellency Thaninga Shope-Soumah who urged the world to demand an immediate stop to the many campaigns that are aimed at bringing Cuba to her knees.
“As friends in solidarity, we ask for peace in the world. We ask for nations to stand together and support to uplift one another. That is what friends in solidarity do for one another.
“We saw the role that the Cuban specialist doctors and technicians played, during the very difficult years of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Cuba sent many doctors, during that very difficult time, not only to the developing countries of the world but also, to some of the developed nations of Europe”, she reminded.
The spirit of the participants in the fight, and their ideas of justice, dignity, and patriotism are evident in the Cuban society as they continue being confident that their country will remain free, socialist, and democratic.
“Our struggle is not over. Today we face new forms of aggression, attempts to destabilize the country taking advantage of the difficulties in the economy, the industry, and the supply of food and medicines to the population, created by an economic and financial blockade that has existed for the last 60 years, and reinforced during the pandemic of Covid-19,” Alvarez said.
The remarkable spirit of the Cuban people also extended to support the liberation struggle of many countries on the African continent. Despite their struggle, they stand firm on their own soil and that is something other ambassadors from countries such as Western Sahara, Turkey, Namibia, and South Africa appreciate.
The ceremony was also graced by the Minister of Defense, Justice, and Security Kagiso Mmusi, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Gladys Mokhawa, the Friends of Cuba in the Media, as well as members of the Botswana National Front Cdes Dr. Baatlhodi ‘Bucs’ Molatlhegi, Rev Prince Dibeela, Mokgweetsi Kgosipula and a member of the Federation of Trade Unions, Govenius Toka.
The veteran South African politician and unionist, Gertrude Shope – the mother of South Africa’s High Commissioner to Botswana H.E Thaninga Shope-Soumah was also in attendance.
The nonagenarian Gertrude Shope, a former president of the African National Congress Women’s League, has rubbed shoulders with the late Cuban revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro. She, together with Thabo Mbeki, accompanied the late former ANC president, Oliver Reginald Tambo in March 1986 to Havana, when Tambo went to receive Cuba’s highest honour, the Order of Playa Giron.
Two years earlier, in 1984, Cuba had conferred the same honour on Nelson Mandela whilst he was still incarcerated in the notorious Robben Island prison.
