The 7th Continental Congress of the Coordination of Rural Organizations (CLOC-La Vía Campesina) began on June 25 in Güira de Melena (Artemisa, Cuba) with peasant youth as protagonists as they carried out their 5th Assembly.

This meeting took place at the “Niceto Pérez García” Center of the National Association of Small Farmers of Cuba (ANAP).

100 delegates from 19 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean participated in the assembly, under the slogan: “Youth in the countryside, youth in the city, let´s fight together for our ideals”.

After a day of group discussions about how to strengthen coordination of young people in the countries and regions of CLOC, the challenges they face -how to strengthen the rural-urban alliance- and what methods to use to broaden organization and political/ideological formation of youth in the countryside and the city, the delegates issued a final statement.

Yulissa Morejón, Cuban peasant, member of the Communist Youth and president of a grassroots organization member of ANAP highlighted the need to strengthen unity of peasant organizations of CLOC.

The final statement of the 5th Youth Assembly of CLOC focused on reaffirming “the self determination and unity of the people to continue in the struggle for cultural, peasant, indigenous, black and Afro-descendant identity and other groups of people who work in rural areas in order to strengthen the resistance against the US interference, and for the anti-fascist and anti-imperialistic struggle”.

They also rejected the criminalization and murder of leaders in the region and expressed their solidarity with the people of Honduras and Venezuela.

Margarita Gómez, member of the Political Commission of CLOC-VC, South-American youth delegate at the International Coordination Commission (CCI) of Vía Campesina, made reference to the challenges ahead:

Defending the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants approved by the UN in 2018, and demanding local and national governments to take it as a mandate to implement through public policies; to continue building peace; to continue standing in solidarity with Venezuela and denouncing the economic blockade imposed by the US in that country, in Cuba and Nicaragua; to put an end to right-wing governments through popular vote; to recover the culture of all peoples, against cultural losses imposed by capitalist practices.