By Carmen Esquivel
Varsot is the name of this group that bears the initials of the mambí fighter and that was created in the coastal commune of San Antonio by Rodrigo Devia, Antonio Alonso and Marcos González with the aim of promoting solidarity.
We have two areas of action, Antonio Alonso explained to Prensa Latina. Here in Chile we sponsor the Río Rapel soccer school for children and adolescents.
We also have a project that consists of collecting bicycles in poor condition, repairing them and then lending them for an indefinite period to children with limited resources in rural communities.
In Cuba’s case, the foundation promotes solidarity suitcases, which consist of taking medicines, materials and supplies to hospitals such as Faustino Pérez, in Matanzas, or to polyclinics like Elpidio Berovides, in La Lisa municipality, in Havana.
In La Lisa, the foundation remodeled the Elpidio Valdés park, painted a mural with the support of Chilean artist Tato Ayres, who lives there, and installed children’s games.
Part of Varsot’s work is also to promote the exchange of artists and to spread the reality in Cuba, which has been blockaded by the United States for more than 60 years. For this reason, the documentary “Culpables” (Guilty), a denunciation of the economic, commercial and financial blockade against the Caribbean island, by Cuban moviemaker Yaimi Ravelo, will be presented here soon.
Other audiovisual materials are “La Gota de Agua” (The Water Drop), directed by Iriana Pupo and Ravelo; and “Dónde Están los Girars”, by Bolivian-Cuban filmmaker Sergio Eguino, all produced by Resumen Latinoamericano.
“The solidarity between the Chilean and Cuban peoples is historic and in some way we want to pay tribute to Pedro Vargas Sotomayor, a compatriot of ours who fought there, participated in many battles and campaigned from East to West,” Alonso said.
He recalled that Cuba was also in solidarity with Chile in the 1970s, during the government of Salvador de Allende and after the coup d’état with the Chilean exiles, and so there are deep ties that must be kept.
“We are admirers of the Cuban process, of its music, traditions and culture, we believe in community projects and we must give back to life how generous it has been with us,” he stated.
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