CPA Guatemala appeal underway

The Communist Party of Australia’s appeal for the victims of Hurricane Stan in Guatemala was kicked off with a function in Adelaide last week. CPA Central Committee member, CFMEU organiser and long-time Latin America solidarity activist, Vinnie Molina, spoke to a visual presentation about Guatemala’s troubled recent history and the current devastation at a gathering at the Semaphore Workers Club.

Vinnie’s observations have been gathered first hand. He came to Australia from Guatemala in 1995 and returned to visit his homeland last December. His account of social conditions in Guatemala is compelling. The formal restoration of democracy in 1996 has done little to alleviate the suffering of the masses of the poor and oppressed in Guatemala. The leaders of the brutal war against the people — which lasted 36 years and cost the lives of 200,000 (mostly Indigenous) people — still walk free. Guatemala now suffers with the lawlessness and violence associated with the drug trade and faces the job of overcoming the huge damage caused by Hurricane Stan last October.

Local singer-songwriter Vicente Barrientos entertained those attending the information night and fundraiser with songs of struggle from Latin America. The Port Branch of the CPA ran a raffle and sold food at the function, which raised $218.60 for the appeal.