At our Friday morning breakfast meeting, we take the time to introduce and recognize Rotary Clubs from around the world.
This week we recognize the Rotary Club of Havana, the first non-English-speaking Rotary club in the world in 1916. It started with 26 members, and at its height, it had close to one hundred members. In 1923 the club sponsored a carnival attended by more than one thousand five hundred children, successfully lobbied lawmakers to ban bullfighting in Cuba, worked to get the city water of Havan sanitized for its residents, and helped get pavement for the city roads.
By October 1957, there were sixty active Rotary clubs in Cuba, the largest being the one in Havana. All the Rotary clubs in Cuba were terminated on January 21, 1979. Rotary International revoked the charters and shut down the clubs in Cuba, not the government. Rotary International stated all and any country that restricted freedom of speech and assembly could not have Rotary clubs. However, since the early 1980s, Rotary clubs have been chartered in Eastern Europe, China, and Russia. There is hope that one day Rotary clubs will flourish again in Cuba.
Thank you, Valerie, for this toast.