According to a press release from the Cuban Embassy in Ottawa, the Cuban envoy held talks with Dominic LeBlanc, head of Public Security, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, and David Morrison, deputy foreign minister.

He also met with Senator Peter Boehm and Ali Ehsassi, chairmen of the Senate and House Foreign Relations Committees, respectively, and with Randy Hoback, advisor to the Opposition Leader for Canada-U.S. relations.

Likewise, there were significant exchanges with representatives of the Parliamentary Friendship Group, Cubans living in Canada and the Cuban diplomatic mission, the note says.

Exchanges focused on such issues of bilateral interest as the coming celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Canada and Cuba, and the potential to strengthen ties.

Fernandez de Cossío briefed his hosts on the economic and social developments in Cuba, which has been long subject to a hostile policy from the U.S. government, and is now dealing with tightened economic sanctions and its arbitrary inclusion in the list of state that sponsor terrorism.

The Cuban diplomat hailed Canada’s historic rejection of Washington’s pressures on Cuba.