UPEC President Ricardo Ronquillo presented the prestigious award, which is conferred on an exceptional basis, to Syrian ambassador to Cuba Idris Mayya, at a ceremony at the UPEC headquarters in Havana, so that he can send it to Marouf, who works as a Prensa Latina correspondent in Damascus.

At the event, Ronquillo reiterated UPEC’s desire and willingness to strengthen cooperation with the Syrian journalists’ union.

Mayya, who is about to conclude his mission in Cuba, thanked the Cuban press, especially the journalists from Prensa Latina who have continuously reported directly and objectively on events from Syrian soil during all these years of terrorist war imposed on that Levantine nation.

The news agency, with headquarters in Havana and correspondents in nearly 40 countries, opened its office in Damascus in August 2011, and since then, eight of its professionals have passed through there as war correspondents.

In addition to his work for Prensa Latina, to which he contributes dispatches for the World News Service, radio reports and informative videos, Marouf is the head of the news section in Spanish for the Syrian News Agency.

jg/mh