The Commander-in-Chief arrived in Quang Tri at a time when the Saigon administration, under the protection of the United States, was still trying to deny the existence of the liberated zones and the prestige of the Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam in its attempt to sabotage the Paris Agreement, he said.

According to Huang Phong, no response to those maneuvers could have been more forceful “than the calm and confident presence of Fidel in Quang Tri and his direct meetings with the people and leaders” of the Southern Revolutionary Government.

Referring to other relevant aspects of the first and only visit by a foreign president to the liberated zones amid the war, he stressed that it was undoubtedly the highest and most complete expression of Cuba’s solidarity with Vietnam at the time of the struggle for independence and freedom against US aggression.

This, he emphasized in a text provided to Prensa Latina, was an unforgettable trip for Cubans and Vietnamese because it reaffirmed Cuba’s role in the international movement of solidarity with Vietnam. Fidel Castro’s first visit to Vietnam, which took place from September 12 to 17, 1973, marked the culmination of one stage and the beginning of another in the friendship and cooperative relations between our two nations, Huang Phong stated.

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