Haitian People and Government Thank Cuba for its Solidarity

AIN, 9 January 2004, 10:00 AM

Santiago de Cuba, Jan 8 (AIN) Advisor to Haiti's Ambassador in Havana María Yoselín Palanqué gave a message of gratefulness to Cuba on behalf of the Haitian people and government.

During commemorations for the 200th anniversary of the Haitian Revolution at Santiago de Cuba's Physical Cultura Faculty, the Haitian official stressed bilateral historic and cultural relations between both countries.

During the ceremony, Misael Enamorado Dáger, member of the political bureau of Cuba's Communist Party in that Eastern province, called on nearly 400 Haitian youths studying there to defend the ideas of justice of those who carried out the first Revolution that took place in the Americas.

Participants unveiled a bust of Toussaint Louverture, Heroe of Haitian Independence, which was made and designed by Cuban sculptor Alberto Lescay.

They also inaugurated an exhibition by painter Pedro Luis Ramírez which depicts important moments of Haiti's revolutionary struggle from the perspective of a famous work by writer Alejo Carpentier.

On January 1804, the first black republic of the world was born as well as the first independent nation in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Over 700 Haitian students are taking courses in Cuba, 400 of them are studying in Santiago de Cuba particularly at the medicine faculty. However bilateral ties between Haiti and Santiago date back to two centuries ago, when many French landowners came to that Cuban territory.

The Cuba-Haiti Cooperation Program also includes the presence in that nation of 600 doctors and medical personnel who assist 82% of the Haitian population.