Porto, Portugal – At an event in Porto on July 4 attended by around 200 people, leaders of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) firmly condemned the privatization of a key state energy company, Efacec, to a German shareholder. Mutares, the German shareholder, submitted a bid to acquire a 71% ownership of the currently nationalized company that specializes in transformers, appliances and equipment, automation solutions and electric mobility.

The Communist Party leaders who spoke at the event said that this new privatization would deepen the process of deindustrialization and have a serious impact on the country's financial situation, negatively impacting the working class.

Paulo Raimundo, general secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party, spoke at the event in Porto, condemning the privatization and announcing actions the Communist Party will take to try to stop it. One action he said the party will take is that its members who are elected to the Assembly of the Republic will present a resolution there to try to block the imminent privatization.

Privatization and other harms inflicted on the Portuguese economy by multinational capital have resulted in one in five people leaving Portugal to work in richer countries – the highest emigration rate in the European Union.

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Porto, Portugal – Around 100 people gathered in the northern Portuguese city of Porto to show solidarity with the Cuban revolution. They came together at the People's University of Porto (Universidade Popular de Porto, UPP) to demand an end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

The United States government imposed a blockade to strangle the Cuban economy soon after the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

Ilda Figueiredo, representing the Portuguese Cuban Solidarity Association, gave a sharp message condemning the oppression that Cubans face on a daily basis due to the U.S. blockade.

Claudia Amador González, ambassador of Cuba in Portugal joined the meeting via video conference to express, “the importance of international solidarity with Cuba, and that every effort done in favor of Cuba is very important, since we need to fight the blockade from everywhere.”

The participants chanted “Cuba vencerá!” (Cuba will win) to demonstrate that the Cuban revolution isn't isolated or forgotten internationally, and that the Cuban socialist system is seen as a great hope for humanity.

At the end of the meeting all the participants committed to continuing the fight and to coming together in solidarity with Cuba.

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