TEGUCIGALPA.—The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, arrived at noon this Tuesday, local time, in this city, to lead the Cuban delegation to the 9th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
The president was received at the Toncontín International Airport, on behalf of President Xiomara Castro, by comrade Manuel Zelaya, general coordinator of the Libre Party, who thanked the Cuban statesman for his visit and attendance to the Summit.
In his first stay in Honduras, and together with his companion, Lis Cuesta Peraza, the Head of State received the greeting of the Guard of Honor, and was also awaited by the ambassador of the largest of the Antilles here, Juan Roberto Loforte Osorio.
Prior to the arrival of the President, Manuel Zelaya gave brief statements to the press team of the Cuban Presidency, to whom he said that the Honduran people feel a great appreciation for Cuba. Here, he said, they also honor "the memory of the fallen in all the battles in Cuba, the struggle of the Cuban people".
"We are in eternal solidarity and permanent admirers of the struggle of the Cuban people, of Commander Fidel Castro Ruz, of our friend, my comrade Raúl Castro," he stressed.
Regarding the celebration of the 9th Celac Summit, Zelaya commented that this integrationist mechanism has "a deep meaning, because in it resides -he emphasized- a great part of the dreams, of the aspirations of the heroes, of the founders of Latin America and the Caribbean".
They -he reflected- gave their lives for those ideals, for the dream of unity. In Honduras we have Morazán, who died fighting for the unity of Central America; in Venezuela we have Bolívar, who died for the unity of Latin America and the Caribbean; we have Sucre, Martí... "All the great thinkers and patriots we have had in Our America have dreamed of unity and integration".
And CELAC -he added- "has a quasi-perfect integration". The 33 independent nations of the region are represented in it, and that is "a hope that unity can one day be achieved".
