Mudenda meets Cuban envoy

Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
Cuba and Zimbabwe should expand their relations into various fields that include tourism, sport and biotechnology, the country’s ambassador to Zimbabwe Ms Carmelina Ramirez Rodriguez has said. Ambassador Rodriguez said this after paying a courtesy call on Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda yesterday.

“We have very good relations and we need to strengthen them into various areas,” she said. “We have cooperation in the area of health and education, with Cuba providing doctors that have worked in various parts of the country.

“We discussed how we can further strengthen the cooperation in the areas of tourism, sport and bio-technology. Cuba has developed a strong tourism sector and can assist Zimbabwe grow its tourism sector.”

Ambassador Rodriquez said Zimbabwe was a beautiful country endowed with vast natural resources and scenery.
She thanked Zimbabwe for its support against the US blockade on Cuba that has been in existence since 1964.

“The blockade is one of the longest in history and we consider it a genocide blockade that has caused suffering of the Cuban people,” said said.

“It is an attack on our sovereignty and we are grateful for Zimbabwe’s support, especially at the UN.”
Ambassador Rodriguez said Cuba stood by Zimbabwe in the face of the Western sanctions that were imposed as a direct response to the country’s land reform programme meant to correct colonial land ownership imbalances.

Cuba and Zimbabwe share strong bilateral relations and the country provided support for the establishment of the Bindura University of Science Education, while thousands of science and mathematics teachers were trained in that country.