Cuba Grants Friendship Medal to Spanish Activist

Spanish activist Maria Teresa Pantoja was granted the Cuban Friendship Medal by presidential decree at the proposal of the Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP) for her restless actions in support of the island nation and its people.

ICAP vice-president Noemi Rabaza pinned the medal on the activist, who has worked with the solidarity-with-Cuba movement.

The official said that the Cuban people’s huge efforts backed by international support are key factors to resist the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba and to overcome the damage inflicted on the island by recent natural phenomena.

The Spanish activist was moved at the medal granting and ratified her commitment to keep supporting Cuba, an action she began in the 1990s when she promoted the setting up of the Antonio Maceo Friendship-with-Cuba Association in the Spanish region of Toledo.

This is not a personal decoration but a collective one, because it belongs to all those who have always supported Cuba, said the activist.

The medal granting ceremony took place at Havana’s Friendship Center, where the Spanish activist received gestures of thankfulness by different Cuban people including officials from the Cuban Communist Party International Relations Department.