The Prime Minister of Cuba, Manuel Marrero, assured today that the Caribbean nation and Angola have potential for a much broader and mutually beneficial cooperation, one of the objectives of his visit to this country.
As part of his working visit to Angola, the Prime Minister was received on Friday morning by the Angolan President, João Lourenço, at the Presidential Palace of Ciudad Alta, in Luanda.
In statements to the press after talking with the Angolan president, the head of government conveyed “a warm embrace from the brotherly people of Cuba to the Angolan people,” and a special greeting on behalf of the leader of the Revolution, Army General Raúl Castro, and the president, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Manuel Marrero made statements to the press
Marrero highlighted the cordiality in which the audience with Lourenço took place, who exchanged feelings of friendship with the delegation, in particular with the Army Corps General and Hero of the Republic of Cuba, Ramón Espinosa.
Espinosa was one of the main military leaders of the Cuban troops that fought in defense of Angola’s sovereignty and was a comrade-in-arms of the Angolan president.
The Cuban prime minister specified that in the meeting they made an assessment of the relations between both countries, both politically and economically and commercially.
He shared the announcement made by the head of State regarding the inauguration, on October 11, of a hospital that will bear the name of the first head of the Cuban military mission in Angola, Commander Raúl Díaz Argüelles.
Marrero assured that there will be a Cuban delegation at that inauguration, and thanked the gesture that constitutes a reason for honor.
“We came with a broad work program aimed at strengthening the ties of friendship and cooperation between our countries, which are historic. History united us for eternity,” explained the Cuban head of government.
He added that the agenda includes meetings with Angolan businessmen, with the objective of identifying possible areas to increase current cooperation, as well as exchanges with solidarity groups with the island, Cuban residents and cooperators who work in the country. He said that Cuba is going through difficult times due to the economic blockade tightened by the United States, but that it continues in the struggle and resistance with the certainty of achieving victory.
He stressed that even in the midst of these difficulties, the Caribbean nation continues to collaborate with other nations, especially in the fields of health and education; and stressed that Cuba does not give what it has left over, but shares what it has.
“We will always be on the side of the Angolan people, many lives and much blood were shed in these lands not only for Angola, but for Africa, the elimination of apartheid and to achieve freedom and equality for all people on this continent,” Marrero recalled.
The prime minister is also accompanied by the general director of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Carlos Pereira; the president of the Antex corporation, Carlos Martínez, and the island’s ambassador to the country, Oscar León.
