VENTURA DE JESUS

Photo: Ricardo Lopez Hevia

Cardenas.— The far-reaching impact of the revolutionary ideas launched over the last few years under the guidance of President Fidel Castro were at center stage Wednesday in a celebration in Cardenas, Matanzas attended by First Vice President Raul Castro.

The occasion marked the seventh anniversary of the Battle of Ideas, an experience forged in the heat of the Cuban people’s struggle for the return of the six-year-old boy Elian Gonzalez.

The annual ceremony coincides with a women’s march, a high school students parade and the party for the birthday of Elian Gonzalez (he is now 13), with whom the Cuban people feel a special bond.

The main ceremony took place at the Cardenas Movie Theater and was attended by Juan Miguel Gonzalez, Elian’s father and their family, as well as relatives of the Cuban Five, among other distinguished guests. Raul Castro made use of the occasion to hand a diploma of recognition to Rolando Govantes, director of the Battle of Ideas Museum.

Speakers at the celebration included the president of the high school student’s organization, professors and pioneers. They commended the efforts undertaken as part of the Battle of Ideas to provide Cuban citizens with better living conditions and create a more just society.

Mercedes Lopez Acea, member of the Cuban Communist Party’s recently created Secretariat, delivered the keynote speech to the event, where she made a recap of the Battle of Ideas. She said that some 200 social programs resulting from it, gradually spread island-wide, have brought important benefits to the population.

In congratulating Elian on his birthday, she said he is doing well at school, and that he is an example to his peers of good attitude, modesty and simplicity.