Cuba Condole Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Death

Tributes to the former UN chief, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, also poured in from Cuba with President Miguel Diaz-Canel describing Annan as a “symbol of persistence and dignity” in a condolence message addressed to current UN chief Antonio Guterres.

With Annan’s death, “the international community loses one of its most prominent diplomats, a symbol of persistence and dignity because of his origin and his work,” the message said, Cuba’s state television reported.

Annan served as the UN secretary-general from 1997-2006 and received the Nobel Peace Prize along with the UN in 2001.

He passed away in a hospital in Switzerland on Saturday after a short illness, his family announced on Twitter.