Cuban President Raúl Castro is making an official three-day visit to this North African country, his third since assuming the Presidency. His first stop in Algiers, yesterday May 3, was at the Martyrs’ Memorial Cemetery, to honor those who died in the country’s independence struggle.
He placed a wreath at the site under a hot sun, immediately following the nine hour trans-Atlantic flight. Algerian President Adelkader Bensalah welcomed Raúl at Houari Boumediene International Airport, and the two delegations met briefly in the airport’s protocol room.
The Cuban President is accompanied by Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, a Council of Ministers’ vice president; Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla; General Leopoldo Cintra Frías, minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces; and Cuba’s ambassador in Algeria, Raúl Bárzaga Navas.
Planned for today April 4, is a courtesy visit with Ould Khelifa, president of the Algeria’s National Assembly; a reception with Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal; and later in the day, a meeting with Cuba’s longstanding friend, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
