Past events
This page gives an idea of the range of the group's activities.

2008

3 April - at the Lloyds, Chorlton for a repeat of the very successful Cajun-Cuba night.

Cajun Cuba Night Fundraiser for an environmental and community development project in Matanzas, Cuba At the Lloyds Hotel, Wilbraham Rd, Chorlton, Manchester Thursday 3 April from 9p.m. Free admission - raffle - stall - collection ...with The Bourbon Street Preachers playing their soulful Blues, swinging Cajun and stomping Zydeco. Food menu (last orders 8.00pm) and free dish of the day at 9.00.

Click to download flyer

1 May - at the Copacabana club  for a salsa disco night, complete with free dance class.

Dance May Day Away with Cuba Solidarity Campaign Fundraiser for an environmental and community development project in Matanzas, Cuba Copacabana Latin Club Thursday 1st May –8.15 to 1.00 7 Dale Street, off Oldham St, Manchester Free Salsa Class for Absolute Beginners (usual price £4.00). Class starts at 9.00 - numbers limited. Tickets £6 (£4 conc.) on the door

Click to download flyer

Both events will raise money for Manchester CSC's partner project to extend a market garden and extend the tree nursery in the rural José Martí cooperative in the Los Árabos area of Eastern Matanzas province.
thanks to your generous solidarity and support we have now sent £2,000 as a first instalment of the £5,000 needed to complete the project.  We've done well but there is still a lot to do.
Let's see if we can get this completed for 2009, the 50th year of the Cuban Revolution.
->More about the project.
If you won't be able to come - clicking the picture takes you to our Paypal donation page where you can donate safely with your credit card now.

Welcome to Los Arabos - we have and will continue to have socialism.

2007

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Leonard Weinglass, to speak in Manchester

Tuesday 4 December.

We are delighted to be hosting a public meeting with Leonard Weinglass, distinguished USAmerican civil rights lawyer who is representing the antiterrorist hero Antonio Guerrero, one of the 'Cuban 5' (or Miami 5) imprisoned after an unfair trial in Miami for espionage and conspiracy.  
The 5 infiltrated emigré terrorist groups to provide information for the defense of Cuba.
Hear about their case and get first hand information on the progress of their appeal.
Tuesday 4th December, 7.30pm, Committee Room 2, Manchester Town Hall.   MAP
more about the case of the 5

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Quiz Night  New date:  Friday 23 November 2007
The Carlton Club, 113 Carlton Road, Whalley Range, 8.00, Friday 26 October.
Come alone or as a team of 4.   Map showing location of Carlton Club.
flyer
All funds raised will go to help our new tree
nursery project with The José Martí Small
Agricultural Production Co-operative in the
Province of Matanzas, Cuba  -> more information on the project  - donate online

waged - £4;  unwaged - £3;  table of 4 - £15
        RAFFLE                       STALL

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Cajun Cuba Night    flyer

Fundraiser for our new environmental and community development project, a tree nursery in Los Árabos, Matanzas, Cuba  

-> more  information on the project. - donate online

At the Lloyds Hotel, Wilbraham Rd, Chorlton, Manchester
Thursday 27 Sept from 9p.m.
Free admission - raffle

with The Bourbon Street Preachers
playing their soulful Blues, swinging Cajun and stomping Zydeco.
Food menu (last orders 8.00pm) and free dish of the day at 9.00.

‘Made In Cuba’ – film and discussion

with very special guest from Cuba:
Dr Juan Carlos Dupuy Núñez
Head of Cuba’s Henry Reeve emergency medical brigade and leader of the 2,400 strong team that treated 1.7 million people following the Kashmir earthquake in October 2005.
All welcome

Wednesday 6 June, 6 pm
Unison Offices, 1 Hunts Bank,
Manchester, M3 1UN

When a devastating earthquake hit Pakistan in 2005, Cuba sent 2,500 doctors, medical supplies and field hospitals to help, and continued working with local people in the worst effected areas long after the TV cameras and other agencies had left.

Come and see the short film On the slopes of the Himalayas, a moving first hand account of Cuba’s humanitarian response to the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and find out about Cuba’s inspirational international medical brigades first hand.

Please help publicise - Flyer to download and print off

Background:  Cuba’s Cure:  Why is Cuba Exporting Its Health Care Miracle To The World’s Poor?  by Sarah van Gelder (Yes magazine)

Film:  On the slopes of the Himalayas   Download leaflet

When a devastating earthquake hit Pakistan in 2005, Cuba sent 2,500 
doctors, medical supplies and field hospitals to help, and continued 
working with local people in the worst effected areas long after the TV 
cameras and other agencies had left.

Come and see the Manchester premiere of On the slopes of the Himalayas, 
a moving first hand account of Cuba's humanitarian response to the 2005 
Pakistan earthquake, find out about Cuba's inspirational international 
medical work, including the 500 Pakistani medical students now receiving 
free scholarships in Cuba.

SATURDAY 28 APRIL, 3PM
LONGSIGHT LIBRARY, Stockport Rd, Longsight, Manchester.
A UNISON / CSC event

Talk by Manchester CSC members mark Burton and Richard Aubery:  "Cuba, the socialist phoenix" Bolton Socialist Club on 19 Jan, 8.00 pm at 16 Wood Street, Bolton.

2006

1.  Manchester Cuba Solidarity Group    October meeting. 
Monday, October 2nd at 7.30 at the Hare and Hounds Pub, Shudehill, Manchester.

"Cuba after Fidel"

Discussion introduced by John Waller - long time Cuba Solidarity activist, now coordinator of the US Pastors for Peace caravans to Cuba, and recently back from both the US and Cuba

Fidel Castro's illness has got everybody discussing what will happen to Cuba when he dies/stands down.
Who will replace him?
Will Cuban government policies change?
What will the Cuban people do?
What will George W Bush do?
Can the revolution survive?

The real answers are in the future, but John  is well placed to outline some likely scenarios and particularly to discuss what Mr Bush is dreaming of and planning for, and what response is necessary from the worldwide Cuba solidarity movement

2.  Bush's plan for Cuba: how should the UK/Europe respond?

Wednesday 27 September, 12.45 - 2pm  Bar 38, Peter Street, Manchester

Chair: Dr Ian Gibson MP    Speakers: Colin Burgon MP; Rene Mujica Cantelar, Cuban Ambassador; Diana 
Holland, National Organiser, TGWU (tbc); Robert Evans MEP
Buffet lunch, Havana Club Rum cocktails and refreshments



The Bush Plan
...will take away forever your morning goodbye kiss, the hug at the end of school,  as well as the glint in your eye.
Thanks, but we already live in a Free Cuba.

3.  Cuban 5 / Miami Five 	Speaking Tour 2006  
Geoff Bottoms and Steve Cottingham -  At "Work for Change", 41 Old Birley St, Hulme, Manchester..   Friday September 29 2006  7.30pm   click for map
Geoff Bottoms will be visiting  Ramon and Gerardo in the next couple of weeks so will be able to provide first  hand reports to the meetings.
In September, it will be eight years since the Cuban Five were arrested by the FBI.  For eight years the Five have been unjustly imprisoned for the “crime” of risking their lives in order to stop violent terrorist attacks from the U.S. on Cuba.
September 2006 marks the 30th anniversary of the car-bomb murder in Washington DC of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt by Cuban counter-revolutionaries working closely with the CIA.  Letelier was Chile’s ambassador to the U.S. during the Popular Unity government of Salvador Allende.  After the coup, Letelier was a leading voice in exposing the crimes of the Pinochet regime and its U.S. backers. For speaking out, he and his aide, Ronni Moffitt, were assassinated.
Just two weeks after the murder of Letelier and Moffitt, the same terrorist network bombed a Cuban airliner in flight over Barbados, killing all 73 passengers aboard, on Oct. 6, 1976.
In 1997 an Italian tourist was killed during a series of hotel bombings in Havana and in 2000 four men led by Luis Posada Carriles were convicted in Panama for attempting to murder Fidel Castro on a visit there.
It was to stop these kind of horrific attacks that the Cuban Five — Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González — went to Florida and infiltrated the terrorist groups which operate there with impunity.

On Aug. 9, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta USA issued its decision denying a new trial to the Cuban Five.  

click for Sept mailing

Manchester Cuba Solidarity Group    September meeting. 

To give an early start to the three weeks of International action for the Cuban 5  (see below) we will have readings from the letters and poems of   Ramón, Fernando, René, Gerardo and Antonio at our September monthly meeting
At the Hare and Hounds Pub, Shude Hill (by Interchange Metro stop), 7.30 pm.  Monday September 4th. 
We are looking at the possibility of organising a larger event on the same theme - come along to discuss this.

For more information about the 5 see http://www.cubasol-manch.org.uk/#m5

Monday  5 June - regular CSC meeting 7.30pm Hare and Hounds Pub - click for details.

Joint UNISON / CSC  film showing:  Let there be Light - about Operation Miracle, the free Cuban programme of eye operations that is restoring sight to thousands of poor people in Venezuela and Bolivia.  Monday 12 June, 6.00pm  UNISON Offices, 3/5 St John St, off Deansgate, Manchester Click to download leaflet. Bolivians wait for assistance of volunteer Cuban doctors as part of the Plan Milagro -PL

Saturday March 18   Day School on the current situation in Latin America - followed by Salsa evening.
Programme and map

The 'back yard' fights back!  Day School on Latin America
Saturday 18 March, Cross St Chapel, Cross Street, Manchester
Speakers / workshops / videos on

•  Cuba
•  Venezuela
•  Bolivia                                    
  
•  Colombia
•  Central America / DR-CAFTA

9.30 to 4.00 - more info / flyer.               download this  poster

£12 waged  £5 unwaged

AND...

Benefit for Cuba
Chorlton Irish Club, High Lane, Chorlton, Manchester
Saturday 18 March –8.30 onwards
Tickets £5/£4 (conc)  poster    colour version
*Dance class starts at 9.00 - (numbers limited)

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An additional CSC event.
Basilio Gutierrez will address a meeting at Friends Meeting House, Mount St., Manchester (at the back of the Central Library near Albert Sq.) on Thursday 30th March at 7.30.  He will talk about current developments in Cuba, and in particular will be able to update us on

• Cuban economic recovery
• The case of the Cuban 5, prisoners in the USA
• Cuba in the world (including Cuban humanitarian aid in Kashmir and Latin America)
• The international solidarity movement

Basilio is Vice President of ICAP (Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos / Cuban Institute of International Friendship), the Cuban organisation that works closely with the solidarity movement.

2005

Visit of  family members of the 5 Cuban heroes imprisoned in the USA.
This was a very succesful event - with some 80 people present who listened to a moving Speech from Olga and an excellent analysis from Geoff.  Contact us  to find out how you can take part in this ongoing campaign to free the five.

Public meeting
Manchester Town Hall, Conference Room, Monday 5 Dec, 7.30 pm.
Olga Salanueva has not seen her husband Rene Gonzalez for more than five years.  Seven year old daughter Ivette has not seen her father for the same period.  
Ivette was four months old when her father was arrested in September 1998 with four compatriots, for monitoring the activities of Cuban exile terrorist organisations operating in Miami.
Olga and Ivette have been prevented from visiting Rene in prison for the past five years due to repeated refusals to grant them visas allowing them entry to the USA from their home in Cuba.
On August 9 a US Appeal Court found that Rene and his colleagues did not receive a fair trial in Miami and nullified the guilty verdicts.  However they remain in prison more than eighteen months after that hearing, awaiting news of a re-trial.
On Monday 5 December there will be a public meeting at Manchester Town Hall from 7.30pm.  Come and hear what Olga and other supporters have to say.  ALL ARE WELCOME!
Speakers:
Olga Salanueva, Cuba (wife of Rene González)
Ana Mayra Rodríguez  - Free the 5 Campaign, Cuba
Geoff Bottoms - CSC Free the 5 Campaign, Britain
Cllr. Mark Hackett, Manchester, UK

Publicity leaflet

->>more about the case

October CSC meeting - Chávez, Venezuela and the new Latin America
At every other monthly meeting we show a film, or have a talk about some aspect of Cuba and the struggle against US aggression.
The next monthly meeting of the Manchester CSC group will be on  Monday 3 October, 7.30 pm at the Hare and Hounds pub, Shude  Hill, Manchester.
Before the business meeting we will be showing the new Oceanfilm  production:
Chávez, Venezuela and the new Latin America - which is based on  an interview by Aleida Guevara (daughter of El Che) in Feb 2004.  It  includes information on the social programmes, the collaboration  with Cuba, relations with the USA, and an insider's view of the 2002  coup attempt from the commander who took the lead in foiling it.

In Spanish, with English subtitles.

FILM:  Mission against terror
Introduced by Luis Marron, ICAP, Havana
14 June 2005  Friends Meeting House, Mount St, Manchester at  7.30.    MAP
All welcome, but please note we can only accommodate 30 or so  people.

Mission Against Terror (2004, 48 minutes) was co-produced by Radio Havana Cuba reporter Bernie Dwyer, and Cuban TV producer, Roberto Ruiz Rebo.  It follows the case of the Cuban Five- five men from Cuba who are unjustly imprisoned in the U.S. for doing nothing more than preventing terrorism against the Cuban people. They were arrested on September 12, 1998 by the FBI and have been in prison ever since. The men, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, René González, and Fernando González, were sentenced in Miami federal court to four life terms and 75 years collectively. Their case is on appeal before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"Mission Against Terror" shows historical footage of terrorism against Cuba and provides a moving depiction of the case of the Cuban Five. It features interviews with Cuban National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcón, former CIA agent Philip Agee, attorney Leonard Weinglass, Cuban activist from Miami, Andrés Gómez, Geoff Bottoms, Chair of the CSC Miami Five Campaign Group, and family members of the Cuban Five.
  More information about the 5.

another  Salsa Fiesta!
Tuesday 21 June -8.15 to 1.00
Copacabana Latin Club
7 Dale Street, off Oldham St
With free salsa class at 9.00 (numbers limited)
Tickets £5/£4 (conc)

The funds raised will be used to support education, welfare and health services in Cuba and to support the campaign against the US blockade.
leaflet   poster

April  - Zelmys Dominguez speaker from the Cuban embassy -  4th April  - 7.30  UNISON offices, St John St (corner with  Deansgate).  (replaces usual monthly meeting).

Thanks to all who came to the Fiesta cubana at Copabana club on 25 Jan.  Despite this being a weekday evening a good time was had, and we raised nearly £500 for Matanzas.

2004

November Meeting:  Monday 1st November 2004 -  7.30. 
The Motorcycle Diaries:  What Happened Next?  UNISON offices, St John St. (Off Deansgate).

Material Aid
Thanks to all who helped pack and load up the container of solidarity aid (mostly medical and educational) for Cuba, the weekend of 30 October.  The aid will go to Matanzas (Health Union, Energy Union, School of Arts, School of Languages, Federation of Cuban Women) and to National organisations in Havana for onward distribution.  Special thanks to Bob Oram for organising it all.

October:  2003
Film:  The Revolution will not be televised.  Documentary about the attempted coup against the progressive Venezuelan government.

December 2003
Talk:  'The dissidents':  Exposé of the Cuban oppositionists working on the payroll of the USA.

Cuban Psychologist to give talk at MMU  (Not a CSC event)
Friday 2  April, 2004 2-4 pm  Manchester Metropolitan University, Hathersage Road.
Dr Carolina de la Torre Molina:  University of Havana
British Psychological Society Visiting Fellow
Achievements, problems and challenges for psychology in Cuba.
A talk jointly organised by the BPS North West of England Branch and the Department of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Manchester Metropolitan University.
Dra. De la Torre has been an active psychologist for more  than 30 years and has made important contributions to Cuban and Latin American Psychology.  In the last 15 years she has been working on the study of collective identities in Cuba.  She has contributed to the development of the Cuban Psychological Society and was until recently President  of this organization.  Her studies have been recognized and two of her books have received national prizes.
 
 

Concert  - STOP PRESS - concert was great success - £1,800 raised for Matanzas - thanks for everyone's help! withSalsa Caliente at the Life Café Saturday 25 October 2003  7.30 p.m. To raise money for musical instruments for the School of Arts in Matanzas Cuba.    Tickets £8/£5 (conc)    £6 (advance)  (doors open at 7). Poster  and  flyer to download and print (Word format)  (with more details).

The Cuban 5
Political Prisoners in jail in the USA  Geoff Bottoms has been coordinating the campaign in the UK for their release, and has visited one of them, Ramon Labanino.
UNISON offices, St John's St.   2nd  October at 7.30 pm.

Also:  Not a CSC event, but the Cuban ambassador will be speaking at 6.00pm on Wednesday June 25 at the Instituto Cervantes, Deansgate, on Turism and Economic Development in Cuba.  Followed by tapas (£5) and concert by Salsa Caliente (£5).

May 2003:  Report back from the Matanzas brigade, which was in Cuba in April, andAGM.
 

March 3 2003:  Fidel and Che - revolutionary leadership.This month, Ken
Stapleton on about leadership in the Cuban revolution.

Manchester CSC did stalls at the
One World Festival, High Lea Park, New Mills - Saturday 29 June 12-6
and  the Unity Festival, Chorlton Park, Manchester,  Sat 6 July - 2002,  Anti Nazi League Carnival - Plat Fields

Thursday 31st October 2002:  Cuban student to speak in Manchester:

Etiané Díaz Estrabajo, a student from the Teacher Training University and member of the National Secretariat of the FEU (Cuba's National Union of Students), cameto Manchester as part of a National Tour organised with CSC.

This was a unique opportunity for students and other interested people to hear first hand about life in Cuba today.

• What is it like to live in a socialist country?
• What does US aggression and the economic blockade mean for ordinary Cubans?

What are the hopes and fears of young Cubans?

Paul McKenna, the Miami Five Lawyer, to speak in Manchester
Cuba Solidarity Campaign was pleased to announce that as well as
speaking at the House of Commons public meeting, we were
able to arrange a Northern public meeting for Paul McKenna, the
Miami Five Lawyer, on Wednesday 10th July 2002, in the UNISON
Offices, 3-5 St. John Street (off Deansgate) Manchester.
Meeting will start at 7.30pm.
Who are the Five?  - more information
 

SalsaCaliente
at the Life Cafe  Thursday June 20th  a great night, with a great band, which featured CSC's own Severino Pandiella - we raised a respectable sum for the Matanzas project.  Thanks to all who helped and who came.

Public Meeting:  Cuba 2002  forty years after the 'missile crisis' and Cuba still faces the hostility of the US imperial government. Steve Wilkinson, Editor of 'Cuba Si' will address the challenges faced by the Cuban people and their revolution.  7.30  Monday June 10:  The Briton's Protection Pub, Great Bridgewater St  (by the Bridgewater Hall).
 

Rock concert with bands 'Great Bear', 'Jackie O', 'MOCO', 'Polythene',
Night and Day, Oldham St., 9 May 7.30pm.
£3 with copy of this/flyer, or £4.00 on door.   Thanks to Kate all the bands!! 

Issac Prilleltensky is well known in radical and community psychology circles. He has recently carried out research on the ethical dilemmas facing mental health professionals in Cuba.
 

VISIT of CUBAN TRADE UNIONIST

We were pleased to welcome Felipe Hector Vega, General Secretary of the Matanzas province (where we have established a direct link) branch of the Cuban Chemical, Mining and Energy Union in September 2001.

He spoke at two meetings:

a) A reception at Manchester Town Hall:  Friday 28 September 2001, 2.30 pm.

b) A special CSC group meeting at Friends Meeting House, Monday 1st October 2001, at 7.30.
(replaces regular monthly meeting)
And we have also organised:-

A fundraising fiesta at Copacabana club, Dale St., Thursday 4th October 2001 at 9.00pm

Felipe was visiting Trade Unionists and other friends of Cuba in Belgium and Britain.  His visit to Manchester will focus on the development of our direct link with Matanzas.  He will also be able to talk and answer questions about daily life in Cuba, the Trade Unions and the social system, the effects of the US imperialist blockade, and the meaning of the revolution today.
Other planned events include meeting on Human Rights, further social events, and a possible Cuba film night.
1.  Meeting with Vilda Figueroa - Community Food Conservation Project,
Havana - Thursday 14 June 2001.  Friends Meeting House 7.30
More information

3. Benefit concert for Matanzas, with Mezcla, and Cuban
speaker - 8pm  Thursday 7   June. 2001 Life Café, 23 Peter Street, Manchester
(download postersA4,A5  both in MS Word format)
Fantastic concert and turnout on election night - £530 raised.
Special thanks to Eduardo and the band, Seve, Cangui, and all at the Life Cafe.

5International Cuba solidarity! 
The December 2000 meeting included a report back from Mark Burton recently returned from the inspiring World Conference of Solidarity and Friendship with Cuba.  There were more than four thousand delegates from 127 countries.

  Let's Globalise Solidarity !!The World Congress of Solidarity and
   Friendship, Havana November 2000:  view inside the Teatro Carlos Marx.
link to -> Description of the conference by IAC

> details

7: The FIESTAs CUBANAs

AGAINST THE BLOCKADE!

Why is Cuba so Healthy?  11 July
John Waller  (CSC)  Author of pamphleton Health in Cuba.
John spoke about health and health services in Cuba.  Surprisingly for a Socialist organisation some members of the audience were badly informed about various aspects of life and politics in Cuba - but John was able to clarify and correct various misconceptions.  Some aspects of th Cuban health system threw the British set up into interesting relief - e.g. if hospitals run at about 75% capacity they don't have waiting lists and can respond to emergencies.  People attending the meeting contributed most generously to the collection for material aid (medicines, ambulances etc.) to help break down the blockade.

Tuesday 11th July, 2000:  8pm  Committee Room 3, Manchester Town Hall.

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The Cuba Solidarity Campaign is the British campaign for the defence of Cuba and its peoples' right to self-determination and national sovereignty. It is part of a worldwide movement aimed at forcing the USA to end its illegal blockade of Cuba.

Donations to CSC can also be sent to:

Manchester CSC

37 Chandos Rd South

Chorlton

Manchester

csc.mcr@poptel.org

current events

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