By René Tamayo and Alejandro Azcuy Domínguez on August 20, 2023
Cuban President arrives in Angola on an official visit. Photo: Alejandro Azcuy Domínguez
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, arrived in the Angolan capital around 2:00 pm this Sunday (local time), to carry out an official visit that will last until August 22.
As the Head of State had announced on his social network Twitter, shortly before his departure from Cuba, on Saturday night, he arrives to “our beloved Africa, to make official visits to Angola, Mozambique and Namibia and to participate in the #BRICS Summit to be held in South Africa. Sister nations to which we are united by a history marked by solidarity at all costs.”
Regarding Cuba’s participation in the BRICS Summit, the president noted in the referred social network, that it is the first time this has happened, and “we do it also in our capacity as president of the group of 77 and China.” It will be a space, Diaz-Canel said, in which “we will advocate to enhance effective coordination between both mechanisms of coordination to defend the claims of the global south.”
After traveling the more than 11 thousand kilometers that separate Havana from Luanda, upon descending from the aircraft at the “4 de Fevereiro” International Airport, together with his companion Lis Cuesta Peraza, the President was received at the foot of the staircase by the Angolan Foreign Minister Téte Antonio; our ambassador in this country, Esther Armenteros, and other local authorities.
The delegation of Cuba is also made up of Political Bureau member and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla; the Minister of Public Health, José Angel Portal Miranda; the head of the Department of International Relations of the Central Committee of the Party, Emilio Lozada García; the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Ana Teresita González Fraga; as well as other Party and Government officials.
According to the work agenda foreseen for these days in Luanda, the Cuban president will hold talks with the highest authorities of the country and will visit places of great political and social interest. Likewise, he will hold exchanges with Cubans who provide services in this nation, as well as with representatives of the Cuban community residing here and members of solidarity groups.
This is Díaz-Canel’s first visit to Angola as Cuban President, and in the same capacity, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz and Army General Raúl Castro Ruz had also visited Angola.
The ties between the two countries – which established diplomatic relations on November 15, 1975 – have been marked by the legacy of friendship fostered by leaders Fidel and Agostinho Neto. It was Cuba’s decisive participation in the overthrow of the apartheid troops that invaded Angola, an action that forever marked the bonds of brotherhood and solidarity between the two peoples.
Source: Cubadebate, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English