Cuba First Vice President Ends South Africa Visit, Arrives in Angola

After concluding his visit to South Africa, Cuba First Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel left for Angola, where he started a three-day official visit.

Cuban First Vice President of the Council of State and Ministers, Miguel Diaz-Canel, concluded today his official visit to South Africa, during which the relations of friendship and collaboration between the two countries were strengthened.

After arriving in the South African land yesterday, in his first trip to this southern nation and the continent, Diaz-Canel held meetings with President Jacob Zuma, Vice President Cyril Ramaphosa, and general secretary of the South African Communist Party, Blade Nzimande, who is also an Education Minister.

About this issue, the visitor told Prensa Latina that Cuba’s unconditional support to the African cause was ratified with this visit to South Africa.

More than 2,000 Cubans lost their lives in this African land, and the Caribbean island has trained about 28,000 professionals of the continent, “as part of that conviction of not giving ample things,” he insisted.

During the one-day intense agenda, Diaz-Canel attended a meeting with the country’s history when visiting the Liliesleaf Museum, in Johannesburg, and the emblematic Freedom Park, where he met with the Cuban collaborators working here and could embrace some South African friends.

During the last official activity of the island’s vice president, the visitor laid a wreath to pay tribute to more than 2,000 Cubans fallen in Africa, whose names are inscribed at a 697-meter-long monumental wall in Freedom Park.

The visit to South Africa, as well as the People’s Republic of Angola and later Namibia, complete the tour of three regional countries. The last country of his tour will be India.

In Namibia, Diaz-Canel will attend the inauguration of President-Elect Hage G. Geingob.

The Cuban first vice president travels accompanied by Gerardo Peñalver, general director for Bilateral Affairs at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Angel Villa, director of Sub-Saharan Africa department.

Cuban First Vice President Begins Official Visit to Angola

Cuban First Vice President of the Council of State and Ministers, Miguel Diaz-Canel, began today a three-day official visit to Angola, to strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation between both countries.

“We came to Angola to ratify our friendship, brotherhood. Close ties join us to Angola” Diaz-Canel said after arriving in the 4 de Febrero International Airport in this capital, where he was welcomed by Angolan Minister of Foreign Affairs Georges Chicoty.

In a brief contact with the press, the first vice president stated that “we have in Angola a part of our historic and cultural roots.”

The Cuban top official mentioned in such sense “our struggle for the abolition of slavery, independence and later the joint battle with Angola to liberate the African people, against Apartheid. This has been a common struggle.”

In those last years of independence, “we have had the possibility to cooperate in the construction of a more modern, developed Angola and give benefits for its people. We highly value it,” he noted.

According to his agenda, Diaz-Canel will meet today with the president of the National Assembly, Fernando da Piedade dos Santos.

Diaz-Canel arrived in Luanda from South Africa, where he complied with a 24-hour official visit. He will travel to Namibia on Thursday, March 19, last stage of his tour of three regional countries. In Namibia, he will attend the inauguration of President-Elect Hage G. Geingob. The last country of his tour will be India.

The Cuban first vice president travels accompanied by Gerardo Peñalver, general director for Bilateral Affairs at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Angel Villa, director of Sub-Saharan Africa department.