Puerto Rican mission in Cuba turns 50 years
HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 17 (acn) The 50th birthday of the Puerto Rican mission in Cuba will be marked June 29 at the Cuban Friendship Institute.
Mission delegate Edwin Gonzalez told reporters on Thursday that the occasion will include the cancellation of a stamp and a medal marking the anniversary which will be granted to Revolution leader Fidel Castro and President Raul Castro, as well as several local institutions.
The commemoration is also marked in Puerto Rico and includes a photo exhibit about the mission´s history with Fidel Castro appearing in some of those stills.
Gonzalez recalled that Puerto Rico´s governor Alejandro Garcia recently visited Havana and participated at the 7th Summit of the Association of Caribbean States.
Friendship Institute president Elio Gamez said that the opening of the Puerto Rican mission 50 years ago to support the people of that sister island nation has become a good-will embassy.
Gamez stressed the relations between the two countries despite the over-50-year US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba and the Cuba-travel ban.
The Puerto Rican mission was founded March 8, 1966 by Revolution leader Fidel Castro and Juan Mari Bras, founder of the Pro-indepencia de Puerto Rico party and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.
Cuba has always supported Puerto Rico´s right to independence and the release of Oscar Lopez Rivera, an independence leader who has served prison in US jails for the past 35 years.
