I would like to express my special thanks for Togo’s solidarity and leadership in supporting Cuba and demanding the lifting of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States, the foreign minister said.

At a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and Togolese Abroad, Robert Dussey, the head of Cuban diplomacy also expressed the Government’s intention to strengthen relations with the West African nation.

“Dear friend, you can count on us to continue to work together for the development of these historic and foundational ties,” he said.

Rodríguez highlighted Togo’s performance in the African Union, a regional organization that every year condemns the US blockade and Cuba’s inclusion on Washington’s State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list.

Prior to the meeting, Dussey spoke at the International Conference Cuba 2024, Decade of Afro-Descendants, Equality – Equity – Social Justice, which opened on Monday.

In this regard, Bruno Rodríguez commented that his presence in Cuba and “his participation in this important event is an expression of the special ties between Africa and Cuba, between the Togolese Republic and Cuba.”

“All Cubans feel African. Before the scientific confirmation of the studies of the human genome, we already knew that we were Cuban-African,” he said.

“We knew it because of our culture, our music, our religiosity, our idiosyncrasy, and we also knew it because of our common history,” he stressed.

Rodríguez pointed out that “the mere idea of the existence of a Cuban culture, identity and nation was born together with the idea of recognizing the contribution of the children of Africa to our people.”

We know, he said, “that your extraordinary presentation before the congress that began this morning is a significant contribution to those ties.” The Togolese foreign minister explained that in Cuba he feels like he is in Africa and expressed his gratitude for fulfilling the purpose of meeting with a delegation from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I would like to remind you, he stressed, that the people and government of Togo deeply support and admire the Cuban people’s resilience in the face of the effects of the economic, commercial and financial blockade that has been imposed by successive governments of the United States.

According to him, Togo “and most African countries” always support “the resolutions against this blockade, because it is inhumane, unjust and unacceptable.”

Each country has the right to follow the path it has chosen and here we would like to reiterate our strong solidarity with Cuba, he noted.

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