Carlos Lazo, the Cuban-American professor and activist against the blockade, received in Seattle, the city where he lives, the “Domingo, Viernes, Jefferson Award” given by the organization Legacy of Equality Leadership & Organizing (LELO), based in that city of Washington state.
The award is given annually to community activists “in recognition of their leadership and their work to create a more humane and just world,” under the premise that “ordinary people create extraordinary changes in the world.”
Cindy Domingo, leader of LELO, during the award ceremony, recognized Lazo for “his qualities as an organizer and his love” and said that “he has become one of the most effective voices to bring change to the policy of 60 years of blockade against Cuba, that blockade that has a devastating effect on the Cuban people and on the U.S. people as well.”
“I met Carlos more than fifteen years ago,” Domingo said. “We were in Washington DC on a day of lobbying and action in the U.S. Congress. There was Carlos, as part of a delegation, a veteran of the Iraq War. And I remember that because Carlos came in his military uniform and I asked who is this man. He was there to share his story. At that time Carlos could not visit his children in Cuba because the Bush administration only allowed one family visit to Cuba every three years. How many countries do you know of that the United States only allows one to visit their family once every three years? Since then Carlos has dedicated his energy, his passion and his resources, along with his wife, to his love for Cuba.”
For his part, Lazo reciprocated this message and on the Bridges of Love Facebook channel offered his gratitude, recalling a phrase by Martí: “duty is fulfilled simply and naturally.”
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Likewise, he recognized all the people who make up this movement, who have made it possible, and stressed that the greatest prize is the “opportunity to fight every day for the Cuban family.”
The prize is endowed with 100,000 dollars that, according to Lazo, will be dedicated to bringing medical supplies to pediatric hospitals in Cuba, as well as to continue developing and building Bridges of Love.
