Cuban Embassy celebrates Africa Day

The Cuban Embassy near Monrovia celebrates Africa Day, recounting the historic ties and strong solidarity existing between the Continent and the Caribbean nation.

During the official celebration this week held at Cape Hotel in Monrovia, Liberia’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, represented the Government of Liberia.

According to a press release, also in attendance were Mr. Prosper Nortey-Addo, political advisor of the African Union and the Chargé d’Affaires of Cuba, Yordenis Despaigne Vera, accompanied by the Second Secretary Carmen Maury. Ministers, current and former government officials, Ambassadors and other representatives of accredited African diplomatic missions in Liberia, Liberians graduated in Cuba and press.

A statement issued by the Cuban Embassy here says one of the most glorious pages of Cuba-Africa relations in recent times was services of 256 Cuban doctors who participated in the fight against the Ebola outbreak in 2014 in West Africa with at least two Cuban doctors losing their lives to the crisis.

In response to request by former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and the President of the World Health Organization, Mrs. Margaret Chan, as well as the Governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, Cuban doctors worked for six (6) months in the subregion, supporting the health workers of these nations in the struggle to eradicate Ebola, under the auspices of World Health Organization.

A video documentary titled “Por la Vida”, produced by the Studios of the Ministry of the Cuban Armed Forces, on the work and experiences of the Cuban doctors who served in West Africa during 2014-2015, in the struggle for the eradication of the Ebola outbreak was screened at the celebration.

Several activities were also held in Cuba to commemorate the 55th Anniversary of the foundation of the Organization for African Unity (OAU), now the African Union, which brings together 54 African countries dubbed the “Black Continent”.

This year’s celebration has been dedicated to the 40th Anniversary of the culmination of “Operation Baraguá” or Victory of Ogadén, to the 30th anniversary of the “Cuito Cuanavale” battle that marked a milestone in history and the political life of the continent and the 40th Anniversary of the Cassinga Massacre where hundreds of Namibians were victims of hatred and racism.

The statement notes the century of the birth of the late President Nelson Mandela of South Africa and the 55th anniversary of the beginning of Cuban collaboration in Algeria, which gave birth to its international medical collaboration. Press statement