The International Relations Commission of the National Assembly of People’s Power of the Republic of Cuba expresses its warmest and most sincere congratulations to the African peoples on the occasion of the celebration of Africa Day, next May 25.
We Cubans are proud of our African roots, we highlight the decisive contribution to the formation of the Cuban nationality of the more than one million two hundred thousand Africans who arrived in our country, torn from their lands by the abhorrent slave trade, and whose presence marked the history of Cuba from now on.
We reaffirm that the special relations between Cuba and Africa, which we have built together, over the years, under the wise guidance and brotherhood of the historic leaders of our nations, are indestructible. These ties were deepened during the heroic deeds of our peoples against colonialism and racism on African soil, as well as for the preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of several African nations.
We highlight the broad and solid relations of friendship, solidarity and cooperation built between Africa and Cuba, from the deployment of the first Cuban medical mission in Algeria in 1963 to the present.
Faithful to our common history and stressing the importance of exchanges at the parliamentary level in the development of ties between peoples and governments, we renew our commitment to work with the purpose of continuing to strengthen relations between our legislative bodies, with the aim of making them increasingly broad and dynamic.
To this end, we wish to make contacts between our parliaments more frequent, to increase the existence of parliamentary friendship groups. We want to increase the number of bilateral parliamentary friendship groups and to improve their performance, to hold more virtual meetings that bring us closer together across distances, and to promote a greater exchange of information, experiences and consultations in international parliamentary forums.
We also wish to express our deep and sincere gratitude for the resolutions adopted each year by the African Union condemning and calling for the immediate lifting of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on Cuba by the government of the United States of America.
Likewise, we express our gratitude for the countless signs of solidarity that we constantly receive from African soil, through pronouncements, caravans, marches, solidarity days, and many other actions in support of the Cuban people in the face of the genocidal US policy, cynically intensified in the midst of the difficulties caused by the pandemic with more than 240 measures imposed during the Trump administration and maintained by the current government.
Finally, in the framework of this date, we wish Africa success in the implementation of its socioeconomic development projects, particularly those dedicated to the crucial issue of food security, confident that they will accomplish new achievements that will bring greater prosperity and well-being to the brotherly peoples of the continent.