Armando Choy, Chinese-Cuban General to Speak in Vancouver

Vancouver Public Library, March 11 at 2:30; the Asian Centre at UBC, March 12

Armando Choy, a Chinese-Cuban general who fought in the Cuban revolution alongside Che Guevara, is coming to Vancouver March 10-12 as part of a cross-Canada tour. In April 1961, Choy led one of the combat battalions that defeated the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. In the 1980s he helped lead 375,000 Cuban volunteers in Angola in the defeat of South Africa’s invading army. He subsequently rose to become a general in the Cuban armed forces.

Armando Choy and two other Chinese-Cuban generals, Gustavo Chui and Moisés Sío Wong, have written Our History is Still Being Written: The Story of three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution published by Pathfinder Press. (Information: www.pathfinderpress.com.)

In the book Choy tells the story of how he took part in the battle against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in the mid-1950s, first as a student leader, then as part of the Rebel Army. Che Guevara promoted him to captain, the third highest rank in the Rebel Army. Choy was only 24.

Today Choy heads the massive economic and environmental project for the Cleanup, Preservation and Development of Havana Bay. Cuba is an international environmental leader named by the World Wildlife Federation as the only country in the world with sustainable development in its 2006 Living Planet Report (www.panda.org).

Our History tells the little known story of the Chinese-Cubans and their history. In 1999 Wang Gungwu, the president of the International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas, asked Moisés Sío Wong “How is it possible that you, a descendant of Chinese, occupy a high government post, are a deputy in the National Assembly, and a general in the armed forces?” This incident is described in a review of the book in the Journal of Chinese Overseas.

The review continues, “The answer seems to lie in the nature of Cuban society.” Sío Wong replied to Gungwu, “The revolution eliminated discrimination based on the color of a person's skin....That's what made it possible for the son of Chinese immigrants to become a government representative or anything else. Here discrimination - against blacks, against Chinese, against women, against the poor - was ended. Cubans of Chinese descent are integrated.” (For reviews of the book http://www.pathfinderpress.com/s.nl?sc=16&category=-116&category.)

Sponsors of Armando Choy’s Canadian tour and meetings in Vancouver include the Chinese Canadian National Council; ACCESS – Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity; the Vancouver Public Library; the Vancouver and District Labour Council; the Asian Library at UBC; and the Department of Latin American Studies at UBC. Among those writing letters of invitation to Choy to speak in Canada are M.P.’s Olivia Chow and Libby Davies; Jenny Kwan, MLA; and Wayne Samuelson, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour.

Other speakers at Choy’s Vancouver meetings include Sid Tan, chairperson, Chinese Canadian National Council and leader of the fight for Chinese head-tax redress; Grace Schenkeveld, co-chair of the Head Tax Families Society; film-maker Karin Lee; Eleanor Yuen, head of the Asian Library, Henry Yu and Alejandra Bronfman, UBC history professors; and Allan Cho, editor-in-chief of Perspectives, BC’s first English-Chinese student newspaper.

For further information, interviews or review copies of Our History contact:
Steve Penner, Armando Choy tour, Vancouver organizer 604-324-2671 stevepenner@telus.net