March 11, 2024, Santiago Chile
The daughter of Commander Ernesto Guevara, a prominent leader of the Cuban Revolution, and the grandson of Nelson Mandela, leader of South Africa, arrived at the headquarters of the Academy of Christian Humanism University (UAHC) in Santiago, Chile today, to participate in a Cultural Meeting for Peace, as part of the Global Campaign for the Right of Return to Palestine.
At the beginning of the activity, the Rector of the UAHC, Alvaro Ramis, said that we are called by the indignation and the need to stop the bullets in Gaza, as well as the support to the resistance and the defense of the Palestinian people.
He said that from different spaces we must be powerful voices to denounce the genocide of the Palestinian people and promote the defense of peace in Palestine. And he welcomed the fact that Ernesto Guevara’s daughter and Nelson Mandela’s grandson are ambassadors in the campaign to seek peace in Palestine, the defense of its sovereignty and territory and to promote the return of Palestinians to their homes.
Aleida Guevara
Aleida Guevara, a doctor by profession and eldest daughter of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, emphasized that she feels, in this Global Campaign, she is above all an ambassador for Palestinian women and children, calling attention to the fact that Palestinian women have been tried to exterminate the most sacred thing they have, their daughters and sons.
She recalled that around 70% of the more than 30,000 people killed as a result of Israeli attacks on Palestine are women and minors.
By the way, she said that as a doctor, “I should be there, but they didn’t let me” because of the conditions in the Gaza Strip and other places inside Palestine.
Guevara went on to say that we cannot lose sight of the fact that what is happening in Palestine is an international conflict, given the countries and interests involved, and stressed that the Palestinians, in short, are fighting for their land, their sovereignty, their culture and against the Zionist occupation.
The Cuban representative recalled that years ago Cuba, out of respect for the Palestinian people, broke off relations with Israel. She indicated, in this line, that “we must break relations with Israel” because they have broken all possible parameters, they are the worst murderers in the history of Humanity.
In this context, she pointed out that it was very positive that South Africa has taken the accusation against Israel for apartheid to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and expressed that this action must be supported. “We cannot remain silent and turn our backs on what is happening in Palestine,” she emphasized.
Regarding the situation that is being experienced in these weeks in Palestine, Aleida Guevara said that words are beautiful, but it is necessary to help the Palestinian people in a concrete way, in its reconstruction and sovereignty, and with support in medicines and food. Guevara March pointed out that the Palestinian people “are a people that will not be defeated”.
Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela
The grandson of the South African leader, Nelson Mandela, Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, said that the struggle of the South African people against apartheid cannot be forgotten and that now the same cause is taking place with the Palestinian people.
In this sense, he indicated that South Africa is far from Palestine but that has never been an obstacle to support the cause of the Palestinian people. He emphasized that the conscience of Humanity is reinforced in the rejection of the execution of Israel’s plan to end Palestine.
He said that Israel has been attacking and harassing the Palestinian people for 75 years, it has never stopped bombings or attacks, always occupying territories and establishing communities, and therefore what happened in October, with the Hamas attack on Israeli territory, was an excuse for genocide against the Palestinian people, because this has been going on for 75 years.
Mandela expressed that it is really sickening the silence that there is in the world before the crimes committed in Palestine, where there is a people bombed, attacked, without food, without medicine.
He called for solidarity to focus on the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and to denounce the Zionist policies, with civilians bombed and at the gates of famine.
Mandela’s grandson also maintained that it was a surprise for Israel that South Africa took the accusation against the Zionist State to the ICJ (International Court of Justice), but not for many countries that supported this presentation to denounce what is happening. South Africa opened a pandora’s box with that ICJ complaint.
He then pointed out that the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom are among the countries that most defend the apartheid implemented by Israel and continue to support, finance and supply weapons for the genocide. They are accomplices of crimes against humanity, he stressed.
He denounced that “as long as the line that feeds Israel’s Zionist machine is not cut, crimes will continue to be committed against the Palestinian people”.
Thus, he stated that the Global South must continue to support the Palestinian people, demand a ceasefire and put an end to Israel’s genocidal machine. Stating that “we must call on the people of the United States and Europe to continue their solidarity with Palestine and demand that their governments stop the genocide”.
Within the framework of the Global Campaign for the Right of Return to Palestine, he indicated that we must continue to demand the right of return from the Palestinian Diaspora, that Palestinians must return to their lands, that they can return to their lands.
In final words, he recalled Nelson Mandela’s words that “as long as there is a human being suffering anywhere in the world, our struggle will be far from over”.
Source: El Siglo, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English