On his Twitter account, the president shared a video that recalls a meeting with the leader of the Cuban revolution in September, 1996.

‘One of my fondest and most emotional memories of #Fidel, a paradigm of a political leader, Cuban patriot, and total revolutionary. What a huge challenge is to try to follow in his footsteps,’ he tweeted.

Later, the president stressed Fidel Castro’s legacy in the development of the Cuban biotechnological sector.

‘The fact that a country facing a blockade tightened to perverse limits has developed 5 vaccine candidates with the aim of producing enough doses to immunize its entire population is more than a light at the end of the tunnel. Our people has named this exploit: Fidel Castro Ruz!,’ he added.

The Cuban historic leader was born a day like today in Biran, a town in eastern Cuba, in 1926.

He was the leader of the triumphant Revolution of 1959 which turned Cuba into a socialist country and promoted international solidarity as an essential element to champion just causes. Many experts have described him as one of the most significant political figures of the 20th century.

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