Aduh, who is visiting Quito on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between his country and Ecuador, participated in a colloquium at the Cuban Embassy in this capital to address the Western Sahara issue.
Despite Cuba’s support is in all areas, education is where the presence and support of the Caribbean nation has been felt most, the SADR diplomat stated. He recalled how in the 1970s, 22 Sahrawis went to Cuba to study and currently there are thousands of graduates, “in almost every family in my town there is someone trained there,” he added.
The minister commented that thanks to Cuban teachers, Spanish remains a second language in the RASD, and highlighted the tripartite collaboration with Venezuela in the creation of the Simón Bolívar Institute.
They are allies who, like Algeria, do not ask us for anything in return, Aduh stressed.
SADR Ambassador to Ecuador Hameiduha Ahmed Mohamed, in turn, indicated that Cuba was the first country that opened its doors and its hearts to the Sahrawis, and referred to his personal experience as he was part of the first group of young people trained in Cuba.
We will never forget the solidarity with my country and with other nations on the African continent, the diplomat added.
In this regard, Cuban Ambassador in Quito Basilio Gutiérrez explained that his country’s support for Africa’s independence has deep roots, and stressed that Cuba helped to liberate the south of that continent without interventionist intentions.
He mentioned that the Cuban and Sahrawi peoples are victims of abuse and pressure from foreign powers, in the case of the SADR, Morocco is the only obstacle for that people to be independent, and for Cuba, the United States blockade is the main brake on its development.
Gutiérrez recalled that the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro was “the great architect of that relationship between Cuba and the SADR.”
Also present in the colloquium were the president of the Ecuadorian Association of Friendship with the Sahrawi People (AEAPS), Pablo de la Vega, and the leader of the Ecuadorian Coordinator of Friendship and Solidarity with Cuba.
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