South Africa Continues Demanding Lifting of US Blockade on Cuba

South African President, Jacob Zuma, said his country will continue calling the end of the blockade the United States has currently remained against Cuba

We believe that the initiative to restart relations (between the two nations) is correct, but the economic blockade should be removed, the president said in exclusive statements to Prensa Latina from Luthuli House, in Johannesburg, headquarters of the African National Congress (ANC).

Zuma said he was happy about the level of relations with the Caribbean island, which he described as “very good, excellent” and referring to Cuba, he emphasized that it is “our oldest friend and comrade.”

About 522 Cuban collaborators, including health professionals and engineers, are currently working in the African nation in virtue of a program that officially began in February 1996 with the arrival here of the first physicians.

At the same time, more than 3,000 young South Africans are studying in the Caribbean nation, particularly medicine.

Establishing diplomatic ties with Cuba was the first act of foreign policy by the government of Nelson Mandela, when he became president of South Africa.

On May 11, 1994, in the context of the visit of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, to the inauguration of the iconic South African anti-apartheid fighter, those ties were formalized, an official step that strengthened a fraternal long-standing relationship between the two peoples.

Since the 1960s, the island supported the South African fighters who fought against the regime of racial segregation.

More than 300,000 Cubans contributed to the expulsion of Angola racists and their actions forced the liberation of Namibia and South Africa.