Leader Fidel Castro’s first Vietnam visit an exceptional moment: ICAP President

Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s first visit to Vietnam and the liberated zone in Southern Vietnam was an exceptional moment in the history of the two countries’ relations, President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) Fernando González Llort has said.

Hero Fernando González Llort made the statement in his interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency’s reporter in Havana, on the occasion of the visit from September 24-28 by Politburo member and President of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez to Vietnam to attend a ceremony marking 50 years since Fidel Castro visited the liberated zone in South Vietnam in September 1973.

According to him, in addition to political significance, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro's first visit to Vietnam was also symbolic.

The presence of the Cuban revolutionary leader in Quang Tri battlefield, despite efforts by Vietnamese officials to persuade him not to make that risky trip, is an epic image carrying extraordinary political and moral stature, he stressed.

He said he thinks this meant great encouragement to Vietnamese soldiers at that time, and the image of the Cuban leader holding the flag of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam demonstrated Cuba’s political will and commitment to the just struggle of the Vietnamese people.  

He also emphasised that the visit to Vietnam by Esteban Lazo Hernández is a continuation of previous high-level visits by First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, contributing to further strengthening bilateral political relations and boosting economic and trade cooperation.