Ali Sabry received Gonzalez at the Foreign Ministry, a meeting in which the head of the American Department of the local Foreign Ministry, Poornima Gunasekara, also participated, the diplomat told Prensa Latina.

“We agreed to continue working on strengthening existing relations between Sri Lanka and Cuba,” the ambassador stressed.

Currently, a Cuban medical brigade is providing its solidarity services in several places of Sri Lanka, among them the most distant atolls, within the framework of a cooperation agreement signed between the Ministries of Health of both countries.

The two island nations are united by feelings of brotherhood arising from the visit of the legendary guerrilla commander Ernesto Che Guevara in 1959 to the then Ceylon, after which friendly ties were forged that continue to this day.

Diplomatic relations between Cuba and Sri Lanka were established in 1959 and have been maintained uninterruptedly.

A hundred Sri Lankan students graduated in Cuba and are currently health professionals, teachers, coaches and athletes back in Sri Lanka.

Havana acknowledges Colombo’s support in various international forums such as the Non-Aligned Movement and the UN, denouncing the unjust and genocidal economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba more than six decades ago.

Also, there is a community of ideas of the two islands around the defense of peace and sovereignty of the peoples.

mh/mv/abm.