The arrival of a dozen bicycles is not news, but when it results from a humanitarian gesture that defies the multiple barriers imposed on Cuba by the US government, and then the significance of the event is understandable.

According to Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, Hero of the Republic of Cuba, published on his Twitter account, the cycles received in the territory of Ciego de Ávila are included among the 500 that arrived from Canada at the initiative of the Cubacan Bats project and "will be used in the work of the CDRs in neighborhoods and communities across the country.

Bill Ryan, a member of Cubacan Bats, said that the initiative began by collecting donated bicycles in an empty barn, but the scope of the call grew a lot after the coverage offered by local and national media, which in turn served so that together with the bicycles used will arrive, spontaneously, donations to pay the cost of shipment.

Jennis Flatt Pérez, provincial coordinator of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) in Ciego de Ávila, valued the gesture as altruistic and recognized Ryan's effort to collect a considerable amount of these means of transportation.

She said that in the next few days the bicycles will be distributed to the municipalities and reiterated that they will facilitate the performance of CDR officials, currently immersed in the implementation of a strategy to strengthen the work of that mass organization.

This process began with the preparation of professional cadres at all levels, will continue with leaders and will extend to all CDRs and zones, she specified.

In the province of Ciego de Ávila, 90 percent of the population aged 14 or over is integrated into the CDRs (some 322,354 members), which requires a constant effort by the cadres to motivate and incorporate the members to essential tasks, including integrated community work, so that they participate in decision-making and the solution of neighborhood problems.