Angola Recognizes Cuba’s Sustained Cooperation

The Angolan authorities reaffirmed their gratitude to Cuba for the aid granted since independence in the training of competent personnel, necessary to develop a country victim of colonialism and then of South African aggression.

In the fight to repel the attack of the then Pretoria of apartheid, the Portuguese-speaking nation counted on Cuban internationalists, a gesture congratulated by several generations of Angolans.

The president of that African state, Yoaun Laurencio, former fighter for the liberation of his country, former defense minister, political leader and later appointed Head of State, spoke of that special friendship during these days in Havana.

The president of Angola, who received the José Martí Order, Cuba’s highest award, highlighted during his official visit what he described as selfless aid from the largest of the Antilles to his country and others in the world despite the US blockade.

Laurencio transmitted the feelings of his compatriots for what he recognizes as the spirit of altruism and solidarity of Cubans, by sending health professionals and teachers.

The Antillean nation is also present in Angola in a sphere as necessary as construction, given its imperative to leave poverty behind and invest in progress.

More than 800 Cuban health workers and more than 1,000 educators and builders provide services in Angola, while 2,180 students from the vast country are trained in the Caribbean archipelago.

That learning,” said Laurentius, ” enabled Angola to train “tens of thousands of employees in the areas of health, education, agriculture, fishing, transportation, geology and mining, media, culture and sports.

However, the two countries do not stop at what has been achieved and make plans for the future, as the interviews here with the statesman from Angola allowed.

According to Jornal de Angola, that country’s leading daily, Laurencio’s visit to Havana marks a new era in bilateral relations.

The publication stressed that Angola needs to learn a lot from Cuba for its progress in science, technology and the study of tropical diseases, a matter of interest to the oil-rich nation.

Equally useful for Angola would be Cuban assistance in efforts to implement the National Policy for the Development of Human Resources.

So it is expected that the collaboration between these two countries with historical links forged in the struggle for independence and defense of the sovereignty of the homeland of Agostinho Neto will increase.

(Taken from RHC in Spanish)

Written by Radio Grito de Baire