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United in Sorrow with Poland
By Assembly of the Resistance

Mass to be celebrated in memory of crash victims Friday, April 16 in Miami

Miami. April 12, 2010. Assembly of the Cuban Resistance. It is with profound grief that we join in sorrow with Poland before the tragic airplane accident that took the lives of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, high-ranking government officials, distinguished figures from Solidarnosc and Polish civil society on April 10 as they traveled to a ceremony honoring the 22,000 Poles murdered by Stalin's secret police in the Katyn forest massacre 70 years ago.

We recall with profound emotion when President Kaczynski invited a bi-partisan delegation of Cuban American Members of the US Congress –led by Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, and Albio Sires– as well as representatives of Cuban exile organizations to travel with him in the very same presidential airplane which crashed last Saturday. On that occasion, we traveled to Lubin to take part in a ceremony commemorating the heroic students massacred by the Communists on August 31, 1982 in that city. It was there that the President, members of the Council of Ministers, high-ranking prelates of the Catholic Church in Poland, and the Polish people witnessed the ratification of the Agreement for Democracy in Cuba, signed on February 20, 1988 by organizations of the democratic opposition in Cuba and in exile.

Recently, a delegation from the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance enjoyed the privilege of an official reception at the Presidential Palace by Ministers and high-ranking government officials, as well as by the Polish Parliament, where lawmakers from various parties united to adopt Cuban political prisoners, once again reaffirming President Kaczynski's and the Republic of Poland's solidarity with the cause of Cuba's freedom.

Together with the Polish people, we weep over this great loss, which we feel to be our own loss as well, and invite the Polish community in the US, Cuban exiles, and the Miami community to join in prayer for the victims of this great tragedy on Friday, April 16, 2010 at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, located at 3200 NW 7 AVE at 7 PM. The Rev. Jose Luis Menendez will celebrate Mass in memory of our Polish brothers.

DATE: Friday, April 16, 2010

TIME: 7:00 PM

VENUE: Corpus Christi Catholic Church

3200 NW 7th Avenue

Miami, FL 33127