Fidel gives camera to boy humiliated by the blockade

RAYSEL Sosa González received a digital camera on Wednesday night (Oct. 25), sent by President Fidel Castro, the daily Juventud Rebelde reported.

The boy received his gift publicly from the hands of Roberto González, deputy minister of health, at the school where Raysel attends seventh grade, Olof Palme Junior High, in the Havana neighborhood of La Lisa.

Jorge González, who leads the Coloring My Barrio Community Workshop, where Raysel cultivates his artistic talent, said that for four months, they had suffered together after the Japanese company Nikon shamefully refused to give Raysel the camera that was his prize for the 15th International Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment, because the camera had U.S. components.

“Today, justice has been done, and it has come from the most just man in the world,” the teacher affirmed.

Raysel, who was so surprised that he didn’t open his carefully gift-wrapped present for several minutes, said he was very happy about the camera sent by Fidel.

He said that he would like to see him when he gets better, give him a kiss on the cheek, and thank him for that warm gesture.

Raysel hasn’t yet decided what images his new camera will capture, but he will always remember this day, along with the pleasant knowledge of the solidarity given him by his classmates and neighbors, who a few minutes earlier had listened attentively to the detailed explanation from José Ramón Cabaña, an official with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, regarding the aggressive U.S. policy toward Cuba and its relentless blockade, which was used to try to deprive this young Cuba of his happiness.