from: MIKE FULLER STORIES

BY PEDRO DE LA HOZ—Granma daily staff writer—

five outstanding Mexican academics in Havana

• Gilberto Lopez Ribas,

Anthropologist Gilberto López y Rivas, one of the founders of the In Defense of Humanity Network of Networks

• Gustavo Iruegas,

Former diplomat Gustavo Iruegas, with vast experience in the field

• Carlos Fazio,

Uruguayan journalist Carlos Fazio, a columnist for the Mexican daily La Jornada

• Martin Hernandez and

social activist Martín Hernández, a Christian who is a disciple of the doctrines of archbishops Oscar Arnulfo Romero and Sergio Méndez Arceo

• Miguel Alvarez.

Miguel Alvarez from the Service and Consultancy for Peace (SERAPAZ)


At the event titled "Intellectuals for Sovereignty and against the Empire,"

Lopez Ribas and Irruegas are members of the Benito Juarez Tribunal, a group "tasked with judging, from an ethical and judicial standpoint, the activities of the United States of America in the international arena."

Carlos Fascio said the US won't really block out Mexicans because it needs their cheap labor, and compared the situation to the apartheid between Israel and Palestine.

Martin Hernandez, a warmhearted member of a solidarity group based on teachings of murdered Salvadorean Archbishop Arnulfo Romero said he brought Christian greetings against the "bullets of the Empire."

Miguel Alvarez, from an NGO linked to Chiapas, spoke of a new sense of resistance and construction of alternatives, with Zapatism as a reference. He said that movement has proven it is possible to "step out and build a new identity based on collectivity, and hope is now key in construction of actors from within and without."