Tegucigalpa.—All the meanings, all the symbolisms that have been present in this place, allow us to argue that we have lived "a meeting of love, solidarity, friendship, respect and collaboration," said the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, to more than a hundred daughters and sons of Cuba and Honduras with whom he held a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, on the eve of his participation, at the head of the delegation of the Island, in the 9th Summit of Heads of State and Government of CELAC.
The President spoke with a representation of Cuban medical and educational brigades working here, and members of the solidarity movements, to whom he ratified the commitment that the Cuban Revolution will emerge victorious from the current challenges, and that Honduras and the Honduran people can continue to count on Cuba.
The meeting was attended by the member of the Political Bureau and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, and the ambassador of the largest of the Antilles here, Juan Roberto Loforte Osorio. Also in attendance on the Honduran side were Daniel Sponda, Minister of Education; Annarella Vélez, Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, and Dr. Luther Castillo Harry, Secretary of State in the Office of Science and Technology of the Republic of Honduras, among other officials.
Dr. Rafael Antonio Broche Morera, head of the Cuban Medical Brigade, informed that 128 collaborators of all specialties -mostly women- work here and are present in the different territories and hospitals of Tegucigalpa and the rest of the cities.
Professor Rolando Rodríguez Rollero, head of the Education Brigade, commented on the work of its 131 teachers (86% of whom are women), whose contribution to local education will enable Honduras to be declared an illiteracy-free territory in June, thanks to the "Yes, I Can" program.
He also mentioned the cooperation agreements in which our educators are participating (most of them, 113, with the category of masters and doctors of science) and the impulse that the program "Yes, I can continue" will receive to give continuity to the improvement of literacy.
Thanks to the "Yes, I can" program, 395,000 Hondurans, including 750 people over 90 years of age, have achieved the victory of knowing how to read and write. Most of them live in rural areas, but thousands of urban dwellers have also achieved the light of learning.
The Hondurans," said Professor Rodríguez Rollero, "are constantly thanking us for what we do, for teaching them to read and write, but we are the ones who are grateful for being able to work with such sensitive and humble people".
Cuban teachers returned to this nation in 2022, with the presidency of comrade Xiomara Castro, although an educational brigade worked there from the beginning of the century until 2009.
HONDURAS AND CUBA IN A BEAM OF SOLIDARITY
In warm and sincere words, Erasto Reyes, president of the Honduras-Cuba Friendship Society, said: "the grateful people of this country will be with Cuba for all times", because the brotherhood and friendship between the two peoples is deep, since the time of the wars of independence, which brought Maceo, Gómez, Flor Crombet, Martí, and so many patriots.
The legendary Honduran fighter and great friend of Cuba, Doris Gutiérrez, Presidential Designate (position similar to that of a Vice President of the Republic) exalted the role of Latin American and Caribbean women in the struggles of our peoples for more than 200 years, because, she recalled, "we women are also managers of the great revolutions of the world"; at the same time she manifested the permanent solidarity and accompaniment of the women of Our America to the Cuban Revolution.
"Cuba is a people that shares what it has, such as health and education, and does so with the soul of solidarity with our peoples," she said.
LOVE OF BROTHERS
In his words to the members of the Cuban cooperation and solidarity movements in Honduras, Díaz-Canel explained the reason for his stay here to participate in the 9th CELAC Summit.
The community has been headed this year -he told them- "by a sister, by a friend of Cuba, someone we love, whom we admire very much in Cuba, and respect for her decision, for her courage, for the way she demonstrates the true lineage of Latin American women, comrade President Xiomara".
"Times in Cuba -she specified- are difficult (...). We did not want to be out of the country in a situation like the one we are living, but it was necessary. It was impossible not to attend (the summit) because of the commitment we have with Honduras and, of course, because of the commitment we have with CELAC; and we had to accompany our sister Xiomara Castro in this meeting".
Cuba, he commented, brings to CELAC "a message of peace; that is, the defense of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, which was a declaration approved at the Second Summit, in Havana. We also bring a message of unity, because unity is very much needed in these times".
An essential unity -he argued- at a time when the United States government is developing an aggressive policy of contempt towards the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Díaz-Canel denounced the pressures to condemn the Cuban Revolution, the Bolivarian Revolution, the Nicaraguan Revolution; the pressures to discredit the enormous political and social work carried out by the Honduran government.
They are also trying to discredit the work of our medical brigades... Because, he explained, all that bothers the empire. In Cuba -he added further on-, there is a lack of medicines, there are shortages, but here are our medical and educational brigades, and they do it with pleasure, and they do it with commitment, and, above all, they do it with professional quality and also with human quality.
They do it -he added- with affection, dedication and sacrifice, for the welfare of the Honduran people, as Cuban doctors do in more than 52 countries.
In spite of this, the Cuban President commented, reiterating his denunciations, the government of the United States is developing a smear campaign against our doctors, as this week in Caribbean countries, where they sent representatives; nevertheless, they have made a fool of themselves, they have had a tremendous disappointment, because the Caribbean countries have a lot of dignity.
This - Díaz-Canel added to his explanation to collaborators and friends of solidarity - is the administration that applied 243 measures to our country, and that in the "second season" one of the first things it did was to retake all those measures and immediately reinclude us in that list of countries that supposedly support terrorism.
But against all those maneuvers, you have here the Cuban doctors, you know their significance, and there is also the educational brigade, which is committed to contribute to eradicate illiteracy in Honduras, he stressed.
Díaz-Canel reviewed the contribution made by Cuban teachers, with the "Yes, I can" method, as part of the programs of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP).
The Head of State then commented, with affection and passion, on the solidarity that Cuba has received from the Honduran people, something that, he said, is due to historical reasons.
Between our peoples, he stressed, there are historical ties that cannot be broken by provocateurs or those who seek disunity, or those who despise our peoples. And you, he pointed out to the representatives of the solidarity movement, have been consistent with the history that unites us.
