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By: Fady Marouf (Prensa Latina)
Damascus, August 13.- Deep friendship, unconditional solidarity and unchanging common positions have marked 57 years of relations between Syria and Cuba that began on August 11, 1965.
Cooperation and coordination between Damascus and Havana during nearly six decades of relations transcend geographical distances, the two nations have shared common positions at the international level, both in regional and multilateral settings, in support of their just causes and those of other peoples of the world world fighting for their self-determination and the preservation of their sovereignty.
In all international organizations, Syria has always maintained a firm position of condemnation of the economic, financial and trade blockade imposed by the United States on the island and voted without hesitation in favor of the draft resolutions presented by Cuba.
Similarly, Havana has condemned the Israeli occupation of the Golan and has maintained its unwavering support for the return of that territory to Syria, sparing no efforts to support Syria during the imposed war of terror that this eastern nation has faced since 2011.
Despite the fact that both nations face a suffocating blockade, there are many signs of mutual solidarity, as Syria sent oil ships to Cuba during the so-called special period in the early 1990s while batches of Cuban medicines and vaccines arrived in Syria.
Between 2016 and 2019, Syria received tons of Cuban medicines for cancer and vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, influenza and hepatitis B, at a time when Western countries are imposing a strict blockade preventing the arrival of medical supplies to Syria.
Another example of multilateral support, cooperation and solidarity was Havana’s sending of a donation of 240,000 doses of the vaccines Abdala, Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus, three nationally manufactured drugs against the new coronavirus.
Hundreds of Syrian professionals have graduated from Cuban universities in the fields of medicine, civil engineering, architecture, computer science, among others, and today they use their knowledge to contribute to the development, preparation of new professionals and the resistance of their nation.
The Syrian people also do not forget that in 1974 a brigade of Cuban tankers was on their country on an internationalist mission to assist the Syrian army in maintaining the integrity of the territory and independence against the invading Israeli army.
A Cuban medical contingent of orthopedists and rehabilitation specialists also worked in Damascus for the wounded of the war of liberation in October 1973. The friendship was strengthened in 1979 by the visit of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad to Havana. on the occasion of the celebration of the VI. Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement and the visit of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, to Syria in 2001.
The visit of the current President Bashar al-Assad in 2010 is also highlighted as a reaffirmation of the alliance between the two countries.
Leaders Fidel Castro and Hafez al-Assad laid the foundations and foundations of these ties, which have continued and been strengthened with current Presidents Miguel Díaz Canel and Bashar Al-Assad, Friendship Group leader Mohamed Jerry told Prensa Latina-Cuba in Syrian Houses of Parliament.
We share a common struggle for the benefit of both countries against US arrogance and the criminal Israeli war machine, the MP said.
In statements similar to those of Prensa Latina, Cuban Ambassador to Damascus, Miguel Porto Parga, stressed the will to promote relations despite the growing challenges and pressures that Syria and Cuba are currently facing.
There are many reasons, fighting spirit and resistance, as well as a common will to maintain the traditional attitude of unity, solidarity and cooperation to face and defeat enemy campaigns in any scenario,” the diplomat stressed.