On the night of May 4, our comrades arrived at Ministro Pistarini International Airport (Ezeiza): Congresswoman Cele Fierro and Dr. Raúl Laguna, together with Cristina “Titi” Agüero, environmental activist from Esquel, Chubut. They were warmly received and, as soon as they set foot on Argentine soil, they reaffirmed their commitment to continue fighting for the freedom of Thiago Avila and Saif Abukeshek, of all Palestinian prisoners and for a Free Palestine from the river to the sea.
By Oda Cuentas and Rubén Tzanoff
Return via Istanbul
After almost two days of abduction by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), more than 170 activists of the Flotilla were released in a port in southern Crete, Greece; they were then transferred to the International Airport of Heraklion and, from there, they began the gradual return to their countries of origin. Our comrades left via Istanbul – together with the Turkish delegation and activists from different countries – and stayed in that city for two days, hosted by the local Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) which organized their return. They finally landed in Ezeiza on the night of Monday, May 4.
Emotional reception
As soon as they left the baggage claim area, the journalists present witnessed the first hugs to receive Cele, Raul and Cristina, with a mixture of emotion, affection and anger at the Zionist aggressions. They were received by Alejandro Bodart, coordinator of the International Socialist League (ISL), leaders of the Socialist Workers Movement (MST) and other comrades.
Outside the entrance hall dozens of MST militants were waiting for them with Palestinian flags, kufiyas and chanting “Raul and Cele, and Titi too, first line confronting Israel.” The three comrades expressed some words that we share synthetically:
Cristina, who joined the environmental struggle with the Palestinian cause, said: “Thank you for the welcome, we are very happy to be home…at the same time we are worried about our comrades who are still under abduction by the Zionist State in a maximum security prison in Israel…there are still more than 9,000 Palestinians imprisoned, among them 400 children…we will keep fighting until this racist and colonial regime falls”.
Raúl, moved and recently elected as Secretary General of Buenos Aires health professionals union CICOP in the northern zone of the Province of Buenos Aires, said: “Thank you for coming, you make us feel very accompanied… we were detained 1.200 km away from occupied Palestine, they abducted us with total impunity, they locked us in a container, they beat us and some comrades were hospitalized, but they did not break us… I feel proud because we went in representation of the MST and the ISL and we were supported by comrades of the Spanish SOL and the Italian PCL1, we are stronger to face the genocide…the atrocities of the terrorist government of Israel have not stopped, they continue killing Palestinians, doctors and destroying hospitals…what they did to us is a small sample of the violence that the Palestinian people suffer…”
From the experience in his second consecutive mission, Cele expressed: “Almost six months ago we were here when we arrived from the first mission and we said: we are going to do it again, and we did it, and we are going to go as many times as necessary to break the blockade and for a Free Palestine… We were abducted for more than 40 hours by Zionism… when we had not even reached the orange zone 100 miles away, it was in the Mediterranean, with the complicity of the European Union, which looks the other way while there is a genocide… The mission continues… We have the joy of returning as a collective: the GSF Argentina… Once again the Argentine State, whose president defines himself as ‘the most Zionist president in the world’, did nothing. They told us to “see ourselved how to return” equivalent to “they must have done something”. Of course we did something, we stood on the side of the Palestinian people. I want to thank all our comrades in struggle, the party and our comrades from Spain, Italy, Germany and all over the world who were with us… The mission is not over, Thiago and Saif are still detained. Continue accompanying the humanitarian mission to break the genocidal blockade… We will continue fighting for this cause of humanity”.
Palestinian comrade Abdallah Mamdouh Tibi also said at the welcome: “Thank you, in the name of every Gazan and Palestinian, for all that has been done, even if it has not been achieved because of the complicity of the European governments…Thank you because you left everything behind, children, families, friends, to try to reach Gaza, something that neither the European governments nor the Arab governments do. In the previous Flotilla and in this one the GSF did the things that governments do not do…Let’s continue fighting for the freedom of Thiago and Saif, abducted, beaten, and humiliated in maximum security prisons. We must continue for them and for a Free Palestine”.
Pablo Giachello, who participated in the Flotilla, was also present, as well as Vanina Biasi (PO-FITU).
All the speeches emphasized again and again: “We will continue to demand the freedom of Thiago and Saif, who are still detained, without taking our eyes off the Flotilla and Palestine”. And those present united in a single cry: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will prevail” until the event ended, well into the night.
The struggle continues
We are proud of our comrades Cele and Raul who put their bodies in line at sea, without taking their eyes off Palestine. In the immediate future, they will continue to receive the affection of the welcome and they will rest, although it will be a short break because there is not a minute to lose in the continuity of the struggle for the freedom of Thiago and Saif. In the coming days we will share the experiences of Cele and Raul and a first assessment of the mission.
We will continue to mobilize against genocide, ethnic cleansing, humanitarian blockade and territorial occupations in Gaza, the West Bank and all of Palestine. Against the aggressions of the State of Israel against Lebanon, Iran, Yemen and others in the region; to defeat the Zionist imperialist monster represented by Trump and Netanyahu. In short, for a fundamental, strategic solution: the Socialist Revolution in the Middle East.
1.- Comrades from SOL (Socialism and Liberty-Spanish State), from the PCL (Partito Comunista del Lavoratori) and from the Gruppe ArbeiterInnenmacht were present at the stopovers.
