Athens, February 25, 2021. Velissarios Kossybakis, coordinator of the Greek initiative for the Nobel Prize for the Henry Reeve brigade, thanks Cuba for its internationalist and humanist work and reports that 231,000 signatures of support were achieved in Greece as of 01/31/ 2021.
The emergence of the initiative in Greece was officially on March 28, 2020 on a personal page of Velissarios Kossybakis and 30 other pages on Facebook, which belong to him and the film distribution company that he manages, New Star Art Cinema. Velissarios Kossybakis has been a person with great ties to Cuba for many years. He has spent years doing solidarity and cultural activities with Cuba in Greece. In his theater there are numerous solidarity events with Cuba.
Friends and cooperators of Velissarios Kossybakis participated in the initial group, as well as his Cuban wife, Letisia Suarez Moreno. Among the first who have supported and participated in this project were Vaguelis Gonatás and several coordinators in the blogs / groups / pages that he manages as Greek solidarity network. From day one, there was a great response from the people.
In addition to the creation of an honorary Committee of almost 600 relevant personalities from different sectors of Greek society, a coordinating committee was created with the following composition:
President: Giannis MILIOS, Professor of Political Economy at the Polytechnic School of Athens.
Vice President: Panagiotis (Takis) BARELAS, Painter, Secretary General of the Chamber of Plastic Arts of Greece & member of the Administrative Board of the National Museum of Modern Art.
Vice President: Aristomenis SYGGELAKIS, Doctor of Social Dentistry from the Kapodistrian University of Athens, Co-Secretary of the National Council for Debt Claims of Germany towards Greece.
Secretary – Coordinator in social networks: Velissarios KOSSYBAKIS, Cinematographer, Artistic Director of New Star ,.
Member (looks after the scientists): Dimitris PATELIS, Substitute Professor of Philosophy at the Polytechnic School of Crete, member of the General Council of the Association “We who have studied in socialism
Member (takes care of athletes): Nikos MALLIARIS, FORMER Footballer, former Secretary General of the National Federation of salaried footballers
Member (deals with artists): Christos KALOOU, Actor / Singer
Member (deals with trade unions, mass organizations, parties) Manolis CHATZIMANOLIS, Philologist, former parliamentarian
Member (representative in the press) Irina NEDELKOU, Architect-Florina
Member (Cyprus) Sotiris THEOCHARIDIS, Alternate Professor of Philosophy and Political and Social Sciences, Faculty of Journalism at Frederick University.
Member (takes care of Cuban residents) Letisia SUAREZ MORENO, Cinematographer of STUDIO new Star art cinema, Athens
On 9/30/2020, the official proposal of the “GREEK INITIATIVE for the NOBEL PRIZE OF PEACE 2021 TO THE DOCTORS OF CUBA” was delivered to the Norwegian Nobel Institute, for the award of the Nobel Peace Prize 2021 to the Cuban Medical Brigade Henry Reeve, for its avant-garde action at the international level in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Which was considered valid and was filed as such by the Norwegian committee, that same day.
The official proposal was made by the professor of the E.M. Polytechnic, Giannis Melios (John Milios in English), after his election by the Honor Committee, made up of 600 personalities, created for this purpose and in accordance with the regulations set by the Norwegian Institute.
The logo of the Greek campaign was created by the Vice President of the Panagiotis (Takis) BARELAS committee, Painter, General Secretary of the Chamber of Plastic Arts of Greece & member of the Administrative Board of the National Museum of Modern Art.
