Message From The Cuban Institute Of Friendship With The Peoples To The March For The Independence Of Puerto Rico
From the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), we send a message of solidarity to the March for the Independence of Puerto Rico, which takes place this July 18, convened by more than 20 Puerto Rican independence organizations.
In his message, the president of ICAP, Fernando González Llort, stated:
“Puerto Rico has the right to be free, and its independence is also ours. When we see more than 20 pro-independence organizations marching together, when we see its youth and its intellectuals saying ‘enough’ to 128 years of colonialism, we recognize in that rebellion the same blood that runs through our veins.”
González Llort, speaking on behalf of ICAP, emphasized that Puerto Rico’s struggle is the struggle of Nuestra América (Our America) and that colonialism is not negotiable; it must be dismantled. “We are united by the certainty that no empire, however powerful it may seem, can defeat peoples who recognize themselves in each other’s suffering and rise up together.”
The president of ICAP recalled that the Cuban people are currently living under a cruel siege with the economic blockade, but that adversity does not break them: “It sharpens us.” He reaffirmed Cuba’s commitment to Puerto Rican independence: “As long as there is one Puerto Rican who defends the idea of independence, as long as there is one, we have the moral and political duty to support the idea of Puerto Rican independence. … it is a matter of principle, and principles are not negotiable,” he quoted Fidel Castro in the year of his centennial.
“May this march be the beginning of the end of colonialism. May the world understand that Puerto Rico is not a territory belonging to someone else, it is a people with a name and a history. Long live a free Puerto Rico! Against colonialism and the blockade, unity and struggle!”
Havana, July 18, 2026
“Year of the Centenary of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz”
#ICAPCuba #CubaNoEstáSola
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